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Present Church Edifice — Erected 1792, Remodeled 1842 



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CELEBRATION 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSART 



OF THE ORGANIZATION 



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ESSEX. MASS.. 



August 19-22. 1883, 



SALEM : 
J. H. CiiOATE & Co., Printers. 

18S4. 



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©I^ELilMINAI^Y. 



At a meeting of the Congregational Ciiurch in Essex held 
January 9th, 1883, it was voted — "That this Church observe 
the two hundredth anniversary of its organization by holding 
services appropriate to the occasion." 

At a subsequent meeting it was voted that the anniversary 
have reference to the organization of the Parish as well as of 
the Church and the parish were invited to join in the pro- 
posed celebration. 

A committee of the church was appointed and at the 
Annual Parish meeting, held April i6th, a committee was 
chosen to unite with the committee of the church in making 
all necessary arrangements for the occasion. 

The following are the committees : 

Committee of tfje Cfjurclj. 

Dea. Caleb S. Gage, Rufus Choate, Reuben Morris, 

And the Acting Pastor, Ex Officio. 

Committee of tfje Partsfj. 

Addison Cogswell, Dea. Caleb Cogswell, 

Henry W. Mears. 

©n Cfntertafnment. 



Frank E. Burnham, 
Henry W. Mears, 
Reuben Morris, 
Joseph Procter, Jr., 
D. Brainard Burnham, 
Francis Haskell, 



Mrs. Hervey Burnham, 
Mrs. Mary C. Osgood, 
Mrs. D. Webster Cogswell, 
Mrs. Philip T. Adams, 
Mrs. Josiah Low, 
Miss Lizzie M. Norton. 



Congregational Chnrclt aiid Parish, Essex. 
©n jFinancc. 

D. Brainard Burnham, Joseph Procter, Jr. 

©n Bfcorations. 

Miss Ellen Boyd, Mrs. Albert L. Butler, 

Mrs. George Procter, Mrs, George A. Fuller, 

RuFUs Choate. 

©n fRusi'r. 

William C. Choate, Rufus Choate, 

Mrs. IIervey Burnham, Miss Carrie O. Spofford. 

©n tijc Cent. 
Henry W. Mears. 

©n Pn'ntmg. 

Rev. F. H. Palmer. Rufus Choate. 



Ol^DEI^ OF GXEI^GISES. 

Sunday, Augitst igth, at 2 p.m. 
MEMORIAL SERMON bv Rev. F. H. Palmer, Acting Pastor. 

Wednesday, August 22nd, p.Jo a.m. 

VOLUNTARY. 

ANTHEM "Strike the Cvnibal." 

INVOCATION . . by Rev. F. II. Palmer, Acting Pastor. 

READING OF SCRIPTURE . bj Ex Pastor Rev. J. L. Harris. 

PRAYER . . . bv Ex Pastor Rev. D. A. Morehouse. 

ADDRESS OF WELCOME . . bv the Acting Pastor. 

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 

bj Rev. Prof. E. P. Crowell of Amherst College. 
HYMN (Old Style) . . . Lined off by Bro. Rufus Choate. 

ADDRESS ON REV. JOHN WISE 

by Rev. H. M. Dexter, D.D.. of Boston. 

HYMN. 

At the close of the morning services the congregation adjourned to the 
neighboring cemetery where prayer was offered at the grave of Rev. John 
Wise by Prof. E. A. Park, D.D., of Andover, Mass. 



Tzvo HnndredtJi Anniversary . 5 

I -2. JO p.m. 

COLLATION, IN THE VESTRY. 

2.JO p.m. 

ANTHEM •....,. "Denmark." 

GREETING from the Mother Church, 

by Rev. E. B. Palmer of Ipswich. 

GREETING from Sister Churches, 

by Rev. F. G. Clark, of Gloucester. 
REMINISCENCES OF DR. CROWELL 

by Rev. Jeremiah Taylor, D.D., of Providence. R.I. 
LETTERS. 
REMARKS . . . . .by Prof. Park of Andover. 

HYMN. 

BENEDICTION. 

SOCIAL REUNION IN THE VESTRY 7.30 p.m. 

Invitations were sent* out to neighboring churches and 
pastors, and to all old friends and members of the church so 
far as their addresses could be learned. A mammoth tent 
was erected on the grounds of Mr. Daniel W. Low, and the 
weather proving auspicious, about a thousand persons assem- 
bled to listen to the public exercises. The old pulpit used in 
the latter part of the eighteenth century by Rev. John Cleave- 
land, and afterwards during the ministry of Revs. Josiah 
Webster, Thomas Holt, and Dr. Crowell was placed upon the 
platform for the accommodation of the speakers. 

Rev. Mr. Palmer, Acting Pastor, presided and in his address 
of welcome extended a cordial greeting to all, indulged in 
the thoughts which the lapse of two hundred years would 
naturally suggest and concluded by saying that we glory in 
these old names which cluster around our early history as we 
rehearse their deeds. 

At the close of the forenoon services an aged man who well 
remembered the raising of the present meeting house, in 1792, 
was introduced to the congregation. This was Mr. Andrew 
Burnham in his 99th year. He came forward and occupied 
the platform during the singing of the last hymn. 



6 Congregational CJuircJi and Parish, Essex. 

The collation which was served by the ladies at noon was 
one of the most bountiful ever known in the history of the 
town. 

The music of the day, which was most excellent, was under 
the direction of the organist of the church Mr. William C. 
Choate. 

The vestry and audience room were well filled during the 
evening where a season of social intercourse was greatly en- 
joyed. Brief but eloquent addresses were made by the Pres- 
ident of the day Rev. Mr. Palmer, Ex Pastor Rev. J. L. 
Harris, Rev. George L. Gleason of Byfield, John Howard 
Burnham, Esq., of Bloomington, 111., and Rev. D. O. Mears, 
D. D. of Worcester. An original Poem written for the occa- 
sion by Mrs. Elizabeth Lane of Boston, formerly a member 
of this society, was read by Miss Ida P. Howes. 

The choir and band discoursed sweet music between the 
addresses. The services of the day closed with prayer by 
the acting pastor and the singing of the doxology. 

The following account of the church decorations is taken 
from the Boston Journal of the next day : 

The church interior was handsomely decorated for the occasion, appar- 
ently at much labor and expense. A large floral arch was over the altar, 
and in the centre were the words : 

'PROFANE NOT THE COVENANT OF OUR FATHERS." 
This was flanked by the dates 16S3 ^'id 1S83. Suspended from the arch 
was a tablet inclosed in evergreen and scarlet geraniums, bearing the 
words of Acts x, 33, which formed the text when the present church was 
dedicated in 1793. A floral work suspended from the ceiling was attractive 
from its composition of ferns and myrtle leaves. The pulpit was almost 
hidden from view by gladioli and other flowers. The walls were decorated 
at appropriate points with ornamental crosses, wreaths and flowers in va- 
rious designs. The balcony -front centre was arrayed in festoons of white 
trimmed with trailing ivy, and the right and left of the balcony were fes- 
tooned with the American colors. The balcony rail was surmounted with 
pots of rare exotics, and also golden rod, ferns, oak leaves, etc. There 
was much to please the eye in the general adornment. 

y The location of the first church building, raised in April 

1679, was marked by flags; also that of the second house of 



Tivo HnndrcdtJi Anniversary. y 

worship raised in 171 8. Some of the foundation stones of 
this building still remain beneath the soil. A flag waving 
from each corner clearly revealed the exact location of the 
building to many interested visitors. 

The spot on which Rev. John Wise lived during the first 
twenty years of his ministry, was also indicated by a flag. 

A wreath of evergreen upon the tombstones of Revs. 
Theophilus Pickering and John Cleaveland, in the old ceme- 
tery, marked the last resting place of those divines. 

The tablet of slate in the monument over Mr. Wise's grave 
having been injured, was replaced by one of more durable 
quality bearing, however, the same epitaph. This gift was 
through the generosity of a parishioner Mr. Addison Cogswell. 

Among the large company from abroad who manifested a 
hearty interest in the occasion were many members of the 
families of former pastors of the Church. The families of 
Pickering, Cleaveland, Crowell, Bacon, Morehouse and Har- 
ris were well represented. 

The warm interest and sympathy of absent members who 
had returned to their former spiritual home, the devotion of 
the entire Parish to the duties of the hour, the presence and 
congratulations of many families of the town, not now in 
church relations with us, but whose ancestors for many gen- 
erations worshipped at this altar, the delightful memories 
revived by the various exercises, all combined to make this a 
most interesting and long to be remembered Anniversary. 



CQemoi^ial Sei^mon 



BY REV. F. H' PALMER, ACTIKa PASTOR. 



Preached on Sunday, August 19, 1883, in the First Con- 
gregational Church.* / 

"■For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare 
thyself to the search of their fathers'' Job 8 : 8. 

On the first day of January, 18 15, a sermon was preached 
from these words by the Rev. Robert Crowell, who had been 
ordained pastor of this church five months before. In the 
printed copies of that sermon there is an explanatory note, 
stating that " the following discourse consists of a compila- 
tion of facts the knowledge of which it was thought might 
be useful to the rising generation of this parish;" and ex- 
pressing the hope "that it may serve to increase the knowl- 
edge of their fathers, and lead them, through divine grace, 
to imitate their pious and devout examples." 

*In conducting the services Mr. Palmer used what is probably the oldest 
Bible to be found in any taniily in this section. It is the property of Mrs. 
Winthrop Low. Upon the fly-leaf it is written : 

"The title page and several leaves at the beginning are missing. This 
Bible was without doubt brought from England by the first settlers, bearing 
the name of Low." 

"The Old and New Testament, printed by Christopher Barker, in the 
year 1579."' (See fac simile.) 

"The Whole Book of Psalms, by Sternhold, Hopkins and others, printed 
as follows : 'At London, printed by John Days, dwelling over Addersgate. 
An. 1578. Cum Privilegio Regiac Majcstatis' " 

"Susanna Low, her Book, 1667, May 19. Thomas Low, his Book. 
(Both names appear to have been written very nearly at the same time.) 

"The names of Samuel Low and John Low, written probably near 200 
years ago, also are found on the blank leaves." 



lO Congregational CJmrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

In the providence of God we are again reminded, by the 
occurrence of our two hundredth anniversary, of the appro- 
priateness and profit of turning our glances backward and 
observing the events of the past, in which the successes and 
the faikires of our forefathers have been wrought out. It is 
necessary to pause occasionally, at appropriate periods, and 
review the past. The events which make up our human 
experience succeed each other so rapidly, — so swift is the 
current that is sweeping us onward through our brief span of 
life toward eternity, — that we hardly realize the meaning of 
what is taking place around us. No age can truly estimate 
its own power and significance. It is the part of the future 
to rate the time that now is. Hence the propriety of these 
anniversary seasons. We are to view the past as a written 
page of instruction, which will teach us the meaning of God's 
providence, and disclose to us the value of life, and lead us 
to appreciate the blessings and opportunities which accrue to 
us from the devout and self-denying labors of those who 
have gone before. 

More than sixty-eight years have passed away since Dr. 
Crowell used these words of Job's friend to turn our fathers' 
thoughts back to the earlier history of their then ancient 
church. That which was new in that day has become old 
now, and that which was old then has become very, very old. 
"The fathers" upon whose "pious and devout examples" our 
fathers reflected, have become great-great-grandfathers to 
those living at the present day. We have the pious examples 
of many generations to reflect upon. We have the accu- 
mulated experiences of a long line of godly ancestors. We 
can study their deeds and their principles ; and profiting by 
the dispassionate verdict of time upon their various doings 
we can judge, with some degree of accuracy, of the wisdom and 
earnestness of their lives, and of the quality of the institutions 
which they founded for the promotion of human happiness and 
for the glory of God. We can judge, too, of the progress of 



Tivo HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. 1 1 

ideas, and of the advance that this world has been making in 
attainments, physical, intellectual and spiritual, since their 
day. We may thus find abundant cause for congratulation ; 
we may thus learn many needed lessons, and gain many 
valuable encouragements which will aid us in maintaining 
the institutions which they have founded, and help us to 
hand these down, in turn, to posterity, with new demonstra- 
tions of their usefulness and power. If our present signifi- 
cant anniversary shall do this for us, — if our rich past shall 
thus instruct us, it will not be in vain that we "enquire," to- 
day, "of the former age," and prepare ourselves "to the 
search of their fathers." 

It is not my purpose to review, on this occasion, the facts 
in our history in the order of their occurrence. The story 
of the founding of this church and the detailed history of its 
twelve pastorates is an interesting narrative. The fullness 
and accuracy with which it can and will be related, is due 
almost wholly to the disinterested labors of that revered 
pastor to whom I have already referred. And it is an espec- 
ially felicitous circumstance that we may have for our 
historian on this occasion, one who by nature and inheritance, 
is so especially qualified for the task. 

Without trespassing at all on the province of others who 
are to review the events of these two centuries of church 
and parish life in this community, I wish to direct your 
attention, to-day, to some more general matters which have 
a direct bearing upon the results of these fruitful years. The 
first and proper business of the historian is to narrate facts, 
to set forth events in the order of their occurrence. This is 
the work that is to be done for us by others. But facts and 
events are eff"ects ; and every eff"ect has and must have an 
efficient cause behind it. It is the part of the philosopher 
to trace the events of history to their causes, and to show 
how and why things have happened as they have. As all 
philosophy is but a search for causes, and as all causes 



12 Congregational CJnircJi and Parish, Essex. 

ultimately proceed from, or are merged into the one great 
first cause, which is God himself, so the philosopher in the 
highest exercise of his function becomes the theologian, as 
he traces whatever is, and has been, to the overruling prov- 
idence of God. Without arrogating for ourselves, to-day, 
any too ambitious titles, let us nevertheless assume so far as 
possible the philosophical and the religious attitude of mind ; 
and in our inquiries of the former age let us seek for the 
causes which produced the peculiar and wonderful forms of 
life, both secular and spiritual, which we find originally in 
New England, in such communities as this one, and which, 
from these centres, have shaped the whole political and 
religious development of our land. We shall thus inevitably 
find ourselves assuming the attitude of mind most appro- 
piate to such an occasion as this two hundredth anniversary, 
the attitude of thanksgiving and praise to God for the won- 
derful way in which he led our fathers, and for the wonderful 
blessings and opportunities which he has bestowed upon us. 

In the first place, then, we may thank God, to-day, that, 
the great constructive idea in the minds of our forefathers, 
as they came to the New England wilderness to establish for 
themselves homes and a. government, was a re/igions idea. 

Driven out of England in consequence of the zeal which 
they showed for a greater "scripture purity" in worship and 
doctrine than could be found in the Established Church ; 
finding only a short rest at Amsterdam, and in Leyden, Hol- 
land, where they were "grieved with the corrupt examples 
around them, and fearing lest their children should be con- 
taminated therewith," the Pilgrim Fathers set sail on August 
5th, 1620, from Deft Haven, near Leyden, and in November 
of the same year landed on our bleak and wintry Massachu- 
setts coast. They had left their homes, and endured the 
hardships of an uncertain and perilous sea-voyage to an un- 
explored and unknown land, for a purpose; and that 
purpose was that they might worship God according to the 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 13 

dictates of their own consciences and serve Him according to 
what seemed to them the scriptural and reasonable method, 
wholly unhindered by any ecclesiastical authority and unfet- 
tered by any popish forms. 

The very foundations of our New England and national 
civilization were thus, in the providence of God, laid in reli- 
gion. Coming here with this definite purpose of enjoying 
religious freedom, and of securing it, and its attendant bless- 
ings, to their posterity, the meeting house was the first 
thought and care of our fathers. 

"In the settlements which grew up on the margin of the 
greenwood" says the historian Bancroft, "the plain meeting 
house of the congregation for public worship was every- 
where the central point. Near it stood the public school by 
the side of the very broad road, over which wheels did not 
pass to do more than mark the path by ribbons in the sward. 
The snug farm houses, owned as freeholders, without quit- 
rents, were dotted along the way, and the village pastor 
among his people, enjoying the calm raptures of devotion, 
'appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the 
spring of the year, low and humble on the ground, standing 
peacefully and lovingly in the midst of the flowers round 
about; all in like manner opening their bosoms to drink in 
the light of the sun'. In every hand was the Bible ; every 
home was a house of prayer ; in every village all had been 
taught, many had comprehended a methodical theory of the 
divine purpose in creation, and of the destiny of man." 

It is not difficult to trace the influence of this religious 
idea upon all departments of life in the growing communities 
in which our forefathers lived. Thus we can see that here 
was the starting point of that educational system, which has 
had so much to do with the making of the New England 
character, and which has given to New Englanders a world- 
wide reputation for intelligence, shrewdness, and common 
sense. The basis of the religion of our fathers was the 



14 Congregational Cliurch and Parish, Essex. 

Bible. But to understand the Bible a certain amount of 
education was essential. Hence they forthwith established 
the necessary schools, that their children and the whole com- 
munity might appreciate the arguments by which their reli- 
gion was defended, and that an educated ministry might be 
furnished to lead them in divine things. "The Pilgrim 
Fathers well understood" says another, "that Protestant Chris- 
tianity demands intellectual culture. The preaching of the 
gospel can only produce its best results when addressed to a 
people enjoying the advantages of some good measure of 
education." This they not only determined to furnish, but 
to make obligatory upon all. Here is the germ of our com- 
mon school system. And it had its origin in the religious 
idea. 

Again the whole political system, which secures freedom 
and equality to all our citizens, and which has proved such a 
stimulus to ambition, and such a conservator of justice and 
of peace, strikes its roots into identically the same ground. 
It was their profound conviction of the universal brotherhood 
and the absolute equality of the human race in the sight of 
God, that led our forefathers to remove from a land of tyranny 
to a land where they might enjoy the blessings of that free- 
dom in which they believed. Their political institutions were 
the direct result of their religious ideas. The church and 
the state were identical. The meetings of the parish were 
the meetings of the town. To be entitled to a vote in politi- 
cal matters each person was required to become a member of 
some Congregational church. The historian, Bancroft, already 
quoted, says again: '' All New England \\2iS an aggregate of 
organized democracies. But the complete development of 
the institution was to be found in Connecticut and the Massa- 
chusetts Bay. There each township was also substantially a 
territorial parish ; the town was the religious congregation ; 
the independent church was established by law; the minister 
was elected by the people who annually made grants for his 



Two HundredtJi Anniversary. 15 

support. * * He who will understand the political charac- 
ter of New England in the eighteenth century must study 
the constitution of its towns, its congregations, its schools 
and its Militia." 

Once more this strong and clearly-defined religious idea of 
our ancestors made itself powerfully felt as a constructiv,e 
force, in the building up, in the several communities, of a 
remarkably pure moral and social life. The influence of the 
church and the minister was everywhere strongly felt. Public 
sentiment was thus educated to condemn, almost harshly 
sometimes, whatever was impure and unholy in thought, word 
or deed. The transgressor was made to feel himself odious 
to the whole community, a blot upon its fair name and a dis- 
grace to himself and all his friends. This popular disapproval 
thus became one of the very strongest possible deterrents from 
crime. It was popular to be religious. Sabbath-keeping was 
almost universal. Sabbath-breaking was scarcely known. In 
social customs whatever seemed to make for piety and serious- 
ness was viewed with approval, and whatever interfered with 
a religious and devotional habit was sternly disapproved. 
Thus public opinion drew the line sharply between good and 
evil, and no one was left in doubt as to which he would be 
expected to choose. 

So in all the departments of life, the religious idea of our 
forefathers made itself felt as a shaping and developing 
power, and to it we own all that is noblest and best in both 
the secular and religious institutions which have made our 
own New England, and indeed our whole country, what they 
are to day. We may well thank God that it was so grand a 
purpose and so noble a sentiment that drove our ancestors, 
so long ago, to this inhospitable coast, to found a State where 
education, liberty, and a pure religion might forever be the 
inalienable right of every citizen of the land. 

I have dwelt thus far, dear friends, upon these general aspects 
of life in the time of our fathers, and upon the forces at work 



1 6 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

in the formation of society in their day, because it is only by 
knowing and recalHng these things that we shall be prepared 
rightly to appreciate the part which this particular church 
has had in the conservation and application of these forces 
in this community in which we live. 

I would mention then, in the second place, as a cause of 
devout thanksgiving and praise to God to-day, the fact that in 
His providence, this church has been permitted for two long 
centuries to exert so beneficent an influence, and to do so 
great a work in this town. What the religious idea of our 
forefathers did for New England as a whole, that, preemi- 
nently, this church, as the exponent of religion, has done in 
this community, in building up the intellectual, moral and 
political life of the place. I think we may say with perfect 
truthfulness and without boasting, that for two centuries this 
church has been the chief earthly means for securing the 
best blessings of God to the people of this town. As its 
meeting house stands conspicuous upon this hill, above the 
other buildings, so its influence has been preeminent among 
the good influences that have been working here. It has 
truly been as "a city that is set on an hill," and its light has 
not been hid. 

It is not difficult to find illustrations of the beneficent and 
wholesome eff"ect of this church and of its ministers upon 
the various departments of thought and life. Thus let us 
see what has been its influence in matters of education in 
this place. 

"Our forefathers" says the historian of Essex*, "were in- 
telligent and well educated men. They knew therefore how 
to appreciate the importance of a good education for their 
children. But while in a wilderness, few and far between, 
and with scanty means of living, they could not build school 
houses and hire teachers and if they could have done it, the 
dangers from wild beasts would have rendered it hazardous 



*History of Essex, p. 103 sq. 



Two Hnndredth Anniversary. 17 

for their children to go and come from school. As late as 
1723 wolves were so abundant and so near the meeting house 
that parents would not suffer their children to go and come 
from worship without some grown person. The education 
of their children however was not neglected. They were 
taught at home to read write and cipher, and were instructed 
in the great principles of religion, and in the principal laws 
of their country. And when in 1642 it was found that some 
parents were not faithful in these and other duties to their 
children, the Selectmen of the town were directed 'To see 
that children neglected by their parents are learned (so reads 
the record) to read and understand the principles of religion, 
and the capital laws of this country, and are engaged in 
some proper employment.' The same year the town voted 
that there should be a free school." These were the begin- 
nings of education in this place. In 165 1, thirteen years 
after the establishment of Harvard College, a Latin School 
was opened here to prepare young men for college, and in 
the next half century thirty eight went out from Ipswich and 
studied at Harvard. Eleven of these became ministers, three 
physicians, and the rest served in civil and judicial capacities. 
Shortly after the founding of this church the people in 
this part of the town began to desire a free school for them- 
selves. Heretofore they had been obliged to go for their 
schooling, as for their religious worship, to the further part 
of the town. A general meeting was therefore held in the 
meeting house, of all the voters in the parish, who, it must 
be remembered were all church members. The minister of 
the parish. Rev. Mr. Wise, is surposed to have been present 
and to have made an earnest address, exhorting his parish- 
ioners to "save their children from ignorance, infidelity and 
vice." The result of this meeting, which was thus due largely 
to the influence of the church, was the appointment of a 
committee to secure a teacher and a suitable room for a 
school. Nathaniel Rust, Jr. was chosen and he opened the 



<<Ti.-^c. ;:: ais own house in June. 1695. and coatonied teaching 
for sev^al ^-^ais. The first school house vas boik in 1702. 
The school-master? were at this time, and ft>r many \-ears, 
chosen by the parish ; and die parish was then nearH* identkal 
with rf»e chunch. 

From 1 6S7 to 1 71 5 the Ipswich grammar school was under 
the charge of Mr. Daniel Rogers, scm <rf President Refers, 
of Harvard College. During this period e^t Chebacco 
bo\-s were ntted for College in this schot^. their names were 
William Bumham, Benjamin Choate, Francis CogswdL, Jc^m 
E\-eleth. Francis Goodhue, John Perkins. Henry and Jeremi^ 
Wise. These names at once suggest to us that it was the an- 
cesiofs c4~ s««ne of the principal ^umilies now livii^ amongst 
us. who thus \~alued education and did all in their power to se- 
cure its blessing for themseh~es and their children after dieoa. 
History has fMeserved fw us a specimen* of the work of one 
of these Chebacco boys wiiich wfll give us an idea <^ how 
the good people c^ that day estimated and used their advan- 
tagesw In 1729 Rev. Jeremiah Wise, son <^ our first pastQc. 
preached the election sermon in Boston, "b^nre hb Excel- 
}ecc\\ William Burnet. Esq. the honorable and Lieutenant- 
governor, the Council and representatives erf* the Provinces 
of dte Massachusetts Bay.*" Among odier things, the 
preacher said these weeds : 

**The education of youth is a great benefit and service to 
the puMic This b diat wbich civilizes diem, takes down 
th^ temper, tames the fierceness of dieir natnres. fixms 
di^ minds to virtue, learns them to carry it with a just drf- 
erence to superiors^ makes them tractable or manageable, 
and by leamii:^ and knowii^ what it is to be under goivem- 
ment. they will know better how to govern others, when it 
comes to their turn. And dins it tends to gtMid order in the 
State. Yea. good education tends t» promote rel^ioa and 
reformation, as widl s^ ptoce and order : ss :: grv~es checi: to 

•He>cj«7 oc Essex, z^ ijf7- 



Tzvo HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. 19 

idleness and ignorance, and the evil consequences thereof. 
Further by this means men are fitted for service, for public 
stations in Church and State, and to be public blessings. The 
public would greatly suffer by the neglect thereof, and relig- 
ion could not subsist long but would decay and even die with- 
out it. The public weal depends upon it, and therefore it 
ought to be the public care, and so it has been in the best 
formed Commonwealths, who have erected and endowed 
public schools and colleges for the education of youth. This 
was our fathers early care, even in the infancy of the country, 
and their pious zeal for the glory of God and the good of 
their posterity has been remarkably blessed. Learning has 
flourished greatly under the care of the government, new 
colleges have been erected, and God has raised up generous 
friends to become benefactors to them." 

The training that fitted our old pastor's son to make this 
earnest plan for enlarged views on the part of the "Civil 
Rulers" in regard to education, must have been given him in 
his Chebacco home and in the Chebacco church, and in the 
Ipswich School. 

As the years go on, increasing attention is paid to educa- 
tion. In the early part of the present century the number 
of pupils in the three schools has increased to nearly three 
hundred, and each year the appropriations of money for 
school purposes show an increase over those of former years. 
As we turn the pages of the History of Essex, we meet with an 
ever enlarging number of names of those who went out from 
this parish to receive a liberal education, and to enter upon 
the professions and other higher walks of life. Exactly how 
much of this was due to the influence of the church, and to 
the wise counsel and instructions of its pastors, none can tell ; 
but we may have the living testimony of a score or more lib- 
erally educated sons of Essex, who are to-day occupying 
important and influential positions in professional and business 
life, that the first quickening of the intellectual life within 



20 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

them, and the first impulses that impelled them toward a 
higher career were traceable directly to the teachings and 
personal influences of Crowell or Bacon or Choate. If this 
is true in the present it is safe to assume that it was equally 
true in the past. We may thank God to-day, for the large 
number of educated men that this church has given to the 
gospel ministry, and to the other useful and honorable pro- 
fessions in her day. 

I cannot close this brief review of educational matters 
without alluding somewhat more particularly to the distin- 
guished sevices and unique work in this department, of one 
who has probably had more to do with shaping the more 
recent intellectual life of the place than any other person, 
and whose influence can still be distinctly felt. I refer to the 
late Hon. David Choate. I am sure that our thanksgiving 
to-day must include a great deal of gratitude to God, for 
giving to the church, and to the town, a man who was fitted 
and disposed to do the work that this man did. 

"For twenty seven years" says his biographer*, "he engaged 
in his profession ( of teaching ) with a perseverance and en- 
thusiasm that was marvellous. In the midst of that period 
he secured the erection of a new school building, and such 
a division and classification of pupils as enabled him to give 
to his own department at length the character and the curric- 
ulum of a high school. And that was at a time, be it re- 
membered, when there were not more than a dozen high 
schools in the State. Here his power as an educator had 
freer scope, and was so marked and peculiar that no adequate 
idea of it can be given in few words. Through his energies, 
and personal influence with friends of learning, the school 
was provided with a library, a fine case of instruments for 
use in the study of natural philosophy, astronomy, and sur- 
veying, with outline maps, a piano and other appliances now 
common enough, but then rare indeed, if anywhere to be 

*Rev. Prof. E. P. Crowell 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 2i 

found in the larger high schools. While courses of lectures 
on various branches of study were provided, the instruction 
itself was of a very high order. Hard study was indeed ex- 
acted of every scholar and each recitation was a searching 
test of the work done at one's desk or at home and of the 
pupils comprehension of the subject. Speaking of the school 
of another teacher, he once remarked : 'One great charm 
about the school was that the pupils were first brought up to 
as high a standard in close, hard study, in school and out, as 
they could be, and then made happy and cheerful in it'. But 
the excellence of Mr. Choate's school was not limited to this. 
No mechanical routine ever existed there, nor were the exer- 
cises of the daily sessions ever suffered to run in ruts. His 
pupils did not merely recite what they had learned from the 
text-book, but they were taught continually from the living 
lips. Whatever the lesson in hand it was his part to invest it 
for the whole class with a new interest, to let light in upon 
what was obscure, to go over the whole subject with expla- 
nation and comment and illustration, until it was fully under- 
stood and mastered by all. One of the distinguishing charac- 
teristics of his seminary might be said to be this direct contact 
of the mind of the teacher with that of the pupil as an inspir- 
ing quickening influence, — an electric force. He was fertile in 
expedients to excite a thirst for knowledge in the indolent, 
and an enthusiasm in the most sluggish, to secure steady 
application, and the independent and vigorous use of each 
one's own powers. One unique contrivance for effecting these 
most important ends was a 'general e.xercise' of half an hour 
every morning for the whole school, which usually consisted 
in a familiar lecture on some one of a great variety of topics 
distinct from, or supplementary to, the regular course of study, 
and which, abounding in facts of history and science and the 
arts, in aphorisms, biographical anecdotes, pratical sugges- 
tions as to habits of study, combined instruction and enter- 
tainment, and was admirably adapted to stimulate and enrich 



22 Cougirgatiojtal ClutrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

the minds of those who heard it. Often the members of the 
school were required to take notes of what was thus com- 
municated orally, or to give the substance of it in writing in 
their own language. This indeed was but one of the many 
kinds of practice in composition, training in which was 
another prominent feature of the school, Mr. Choate being a 
firm believer in the saying of Bishop Jewell, which he would 
sometimes quote, that 'men gain more in knowledge by a 
frequent use of their pens than by the reading of many 
books'. 

The fame of the school went into all that region round 
about. Scores of students were drawn in from dififerent 
towns, in the vicinity and at a distance ; there was an average 
number of members of about sixty; and never did the per- 
sonality of a teacher more deeply impress itself upon his 
pupils. Horace Mann's remark was preeminently true of 
Mr. Choate as an instructor: 'The teachers influence is like 
that grade of ink which when first put upon paper is scarcely 
visible, but soon becomes blacker, and now so black that 
you may burn the paper on coals of fire, and the writing is 
seen in the cinders'." 

I have made this somewhat extended quotation because it 
seemed appropiate to let another, who had known Mr. Choate 
personally and thoroughly, speak for him. As but recently 
a comparative stranger here, I can add my testimony to the 
great and permanent value of his influence, both in secular 
and religious education. That influence is still almost as 
really and distinctly felt by those who are working in the 
same lines of endeavor, as though he were still alive. 

Turning now from these educational matters to the politi- 
cal life of this community in the past two centuries, we find 
the impress of the church to have been as marked and decided 
as we would expect to find , it from what we know of the 
character of its men, and of the circumstances in which they 
lived. From the very beginning the founders and supporters 



Two HimdredtJi Anniversary. 23 

of the church, were the founders and supporters of the town, 
and its ministers were actively engaged in civil and military 
affairs. I will confine myself to two or three incidents from 
the abundant materials that are ready at hand, for the illustra- 
tion of this topic, in the expectation that others will give a 
more detailed account of facts. 

Four years after the founding of the church. Sir Edmund 
Andros, the recently appointed Governor of all the New 
England Colonies, levied a tax upon the people of this 
colony, of id. on £\, which was in direct violation of their 
charter rights. The people of this town, under the lead of 
their minister, met together and "determined that it was not 
the duty of the town to aid in assessing and collecting this 
illegal and unconstitutional tax."* A general town meeting 
was addressed by Rev. Mr. Wise, who made "a bold and im- 
pressive speech in which he urged his townsmen to stand to 
their privileges, for they had a good God, and a good King 
to protect them." A report of this meeting was transmitted 
to the Council, as follows: 

"At a legal town meeting, August 23, assembled by virtue 
of an order from John Usher, Esq. for choosing a commission 
to joia with the Selectmen to address the inhabitants accord- 
ing to an act of his excellency the Governor, and Council, 
for laying of rates. The town then considering that this act 
doth infringe their liberty, as free English subjects of His 
Majesty, by interfering with the Statute Laws of the land, 
by which it was enacted that no taxes should be levied upon 
the subjects without the consent of an Assembly, chosen by 
the freeholders for assessing the same, they do therefore vote 
that they are not willing to choose a commissioner for such 
an end, without said privileges, and, moreover consent not 
that the Selectmen do proceed to lay any such rate, until it 
be appointed by a General Assembly, concurring with Gov- 
ernor and Council." 

* History of Essex, p. 98. 



24 Congregational CluircJi and Parish, Essex. 

As the result of this, Mr. Wise and fiv^e others, John 
Andrews, WilUam Goodhue, Robert Kinsman, John Appleton 
and Thomas French, were arrested, carried to Boston and 
tried for "contempt and high misdemeanor." Mr. Wise was 
"suspended from the ministerial function, fined L'^O and 
costs, and obliged to give a ;^iooo bond for good behavior 
for one year. The others were also heavily fined and dis- 
qualified for holding office. "The evidence in the case, as to 
the substance of it," says Mr. Wise, "was, that we too boldly 
endeavored to persuade ourselves we were Englishmen and 
under privileges, and that we were, all six of us aforesaid, at 
the town meeting of Ipswich aforesaid, and, as the witness 
supposed, we assented to the aforesaid vote, and, also, that 
John Wise made a speech at the same time, and said that we 
had a good God and a good King, and should do well to 
stand to our privileges." The town afterwards made up the 
loss to these defendants ; and Mr. Wise brought an action 
against Chief Justice Dudley, who had denied him the privi- 
lege of habeas eorpiis, and recovered damages. 

It has been written that "The Jirst man in Ameriea ever 
knozvn to oppose the idea of taxation without representation, 
sleeps in the grave of the Rev. John Wise of Chebaeeo. 

An interesting anecdote is related of Mr. Wise in his later 
days as follows:* On coming to church one Sunday morn 
ing the sad news is spread from neighbor to neighbor, that 
on the evening before a fishing boat arrived which had had a 
narrow escape from pirates in the Bay, and that the crew had 
seen these pirates capture a Chebaeeo boat and put several 
men aboard of her to convey her with the captured men, 
away to a distant port. This, of course, is an especial cause 
of anxiety to those who have friends at sea. In his prayer 
Mr. Wise "remembers all that are in danger, in perils by land 
in perils by sea, and prays especially for the deliverance of 
those neighbors and friends that had fallen into the hands of 

* History of Essex, p. 133. 



Tivo Hiindredth Anniversary. 25 

pirates. 'Great God,' he fervently cries, 'if there is no other 
way, may they rise and butcher their enemies,' — an expres- 
sion long remembered, because the event showed that on 
that morning they rose upon the pirates and slew them, and 
thereby safely reached home." 

The estimation in which Mr. Wise's public services were 
held while living, may be gathered from these words which 
were written at his death. "He was of a generous and public 
spirit; a great lover of his country, and our happy constitu- 
tion ; a studious assertor and faithful defender of its liberties 
and interests. He gave singular proof of this at a time when 
our Liberties and all things were in danger. And with un- 
daunted courage he withstood the bold invasions that were 
made upon us. He was next called (in his own order) to 
accompany our forces in an unhappy expedition, where not 
only the pious discharge of his sacred office, but his heroic 
spirit; and martial skill, and wisdom did greatly distinguish 
him. * * * Upon the whole, justice and gratitude both 
oblige us to give him the Title of a Patron of his Country 
and a Father in Israel, and to join with an eminent minister 
in his publick mention of him that he was our Elijah, the 
Chariot of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof, our Glory and 
Defense." 

The gradual encroachments of the English upon their lib- 
erties, which finally culminated in the war of the Revolution, 
were watched by our fathers with increasing excitement and 
indignation. When the news was received here that the 
cargoes of tea, which had arrived at Boston, had been thrown 
overboard in the harbor, they meet in town meeting, and voted : 

"I. That the inhabitants of this town have received real 
pleasure and satisfaction from the noble and spirited exertions 
of their brethren of Boston, and other towns, to prevent the 
landing of the detested tea, lately arrived there from the 
East India Company, subject to duty which goes to support 
persons not friendly to the interests of this Province." 



26 Congregational CJinrcli and Parish, Essex. 

"2. That they highly disapprove of the consignees of the 
East India Company, because of their equivocal answers to 
a respectable committee of Boston, and their refusal to com- 
ply with the wish of their countrymen." 

"3. That every person who shall import tea, while the act 
for duty on it continues, shall be held as an enemy." 

"4. That no tea shall be sold in town while this act is in 
force ; that if any one sell it here he shall be deemed an 
enemy." 

"Voted that these resolves be sent to the committee of 
correspondence, of Boston." 

The women of that day were as patriotic as the men and 
heartily cooperated in these efforts to resist the persistent in- 
vasion of their rights. In these exciting and critical times a 
most active part was taken by the fourth pastor of this church, 
the Rev. John Cleaveland. 

An anecdote in the early experience of this man will give 
us an idea of his character, and also of the difference in some 
respects between the spirit of those times and of our own. 

Shortly after entering Yale College at the age of 19, he 
went in vacation, in company with his parents and friends and 
a majority of the members of the church to which he be- 
longed, to a meeting of the Separatists, and listened to the 
preaching of a lay-exhorter, or "new-light preacher," as the 
followers of Whitefield were called. Mr. Whitefield's methods 
were deemed "subversive of the established order of the 
churches," and on this account "were obnoxious to the gov- 
ernment of Yale." 

Upon his return after the vacation he was called before the 
faculty for the offence of having listened to this preaching, 
and upon his refusal to confess that he had done wrong, was 
expelled from college. 

Years afterward his degree was conferred upon him by the 
college authorities, unsolicited, and his name was enrolled 
with the graduates of his class of 1745. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 27 

Mr. Cleaveland's voice was heard everywhere, in pubhc and 
private, at the approach of the revolutionary struggle, urging 
his flock to stand firm, and to make any sacrifice for the cause 
of liberty. When the war fairly broke out he enlisted as 
Chaplain of Col. Little's regiment; "the 17th Foot, Continen- 
tal Army." Says the historian of Essex:* "He practiced 
as he preached. It was remarked to the author by aged 
people forty years ago that Mr. Cleaveland preached all the 
men of his parish into the army and then went himself. 
Three of his four sons were in the service for a longer or 
shorter time. One of them, Nehemiah, enlisted in his six- 
teenth year, and served in the army investing Boston, and, at 
a later period, in New Jersey and at West Point. 'Not only 
by his professional services as Chaplain, but by various con- 
tributions to newspapers, he did much to encourage and 
further the great enterprise which had its issue in our national 
independence.'" 

The same author relates this amusing anecdote of Mr. 
Cleaveland. "For the defence and protection of the coast 
of Cape Ann, a force of militia from the more inland towns 
was drafted, to be stationed there. On their march thither 
they passed through Chebacco, halted, and were paraded on 
the common, where they received their Chebacco fellow sold- 
iers. On this occasion a prayer was offered by the ardent 
and patriotic Cleaveland. While he was praying in his sten- 
torian voice "that the enemy might be blown" — "to hell and 
damnation," loudly interrupted an excited soldier, — "to the 
land of tyranny from whence they came," continued the 
undisturbed chaplain, without altering his tone or apparently 
noticing the interruption. 

Bancroft mentions this old Chebacco pastor, as one of 
those Chaplains who preached, to the regiments of citizen- 
soldiers, a renewal of the days when Moses, with the rod of 
God in his hand, sent Joshua against Amalek."f 

*History of Essex, p. 208. fHistoiv of I'. S. Vol. IV: chap. 13. 



28 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

In the war of the rebellion the ready responses of this town 
to the President's successive calls for troops, the patriotic sen- 
timents heard here from all classes of citizens, and the bravery 
and endurance of the soldiers who went out to battle for the 
peace and good name of their country, show that, in later 
years, the old time ardor and public spirit had not died out. 

It is the testimony of one who had much to do with the 
Essex men in the army* "that none were more prompt at 
the call of duty, none more obedient to commands, none made 
less complaint during the fatiguing march" than they. 

But not only in times of war did the character and training 
of our citizens show itself. In times of peace, in seasons of 
quiet, every day experience, in the period of slow and almost 
imperceptible development, the influence of their traditions, 
the example of their ancestors, and the earnest utterances of 
this pulpit have been active forces that have given a decided 
character and value to the institutions and doings of the peo- 
ple of this town. These are things for which we cannot thank 
God too heartily, and of which we can hardly be too proud. 

I have spoken, dear friends, of the influence of this church, 
as the exponent of the religious idea of our fathers, upon the 
intellectual and political life of this community. It remains 
for me to touch very briefly upon the part it has played in 
' forming the social and moral life of the place. In their ear- 
liest days the various settlements and towns of New England 
were a good deal like large families. The people were thrown 
together and united by the circumstances in which they lived. 
Therefore it has been remarked that their social, civil, and 
ecclesiastical regulations resemble those which are adopted 
in every well-regulated family. It was the patriarchal stage 
in the history of our land. Under these circumstances, and 
with such men for their ministers as we have found the minis- 
ters of ^wr fathers to have been, it is not surprising that the 
influence of the church and its pastors- was very strongly felt 

*Capt. Chas. Howes. 



Two Hundredth A)iniversaiy. 29 

in the homes and in the hearts of all. Mr. Wise was " a tall, 
stout man, majestic in appearance, of great muscular strength,'' 
and with a voice "deep and strong." He was well calculated 
to inspire respect in the minds of his flock, for the house and 
the word and the laws of God. All the children were scrupu- 
lously instructed in the catechism. They were baptized in 
infancy and early taken to meeting on the Lord's day. Prep- 
arations for the Sabbath began on Saturday, and everything 
was done to secure the peace and quiet needed for devotion 
and spiritual rest. The Bible was read and respected in every 
home, and the father of the family opened and closed the 
labors of each day with family prayers. As we read of those 
simple and unostentatious homes we have a picture of pure 
and true domestic happiness such as is hardly afforded by 
any other age or country in the whole history of the world. 
And there went out from these quiet abodes of contentment 
and piety, noble men and women to do noble deeds and live 
noble lives. 

The existence of Slavery in this town is mentioned in the 
year 171 7, when it appears, by a bill of sale dated July 30, 
that "Joshua Norwood of Gloucester, sold to Jonathan Burn- 
ham of Chebacco, for £64. in bills of credit, a negro boy 
whom he had bought of Thomas Choate of Hogg Island." 
The modifying influences of our fathers' religious ideas upon 
this institution, and the circumstances that justified them in 
holding slaves at all, are thus brought out by Dr. Crowell in 
the history of the town.* "They did not send vessels to 
Africa to bring slaves to this country. They did not enter at 
all into the slave trade, nor willingly give it any encourage- 
ment. On the contrary they remonstrated most loudly against 
it. All the slaves here were originally brought from Africa 
to this country in English ships, and forced upon the colonies. 
'England,' says Bancroft, 'stole from Africa, from 1700 to 
1750 probably a million and a half of souls, of whom one- 

*Histoi-\- of Essex, p. 124. 



30 Congregational Church and ParisJi, Essex. 

eighth were buried in the Atlantic, victims of the passage, 
and yet in England no general indignation rebuked the enor- 
mity. Massachusetts unremittingly opposed the introduction 
of slaves. In 1705 the General Court imposed a tax upon 
those who brought slaves into the market, of so much for 
every slave sold.' But England persisted in bringing them, 
and landing them upon our shores. But why did our fathers 
buy them? The only apparent reason is that of humanity or 
necessity. If they had not taken them into their families by 
purchase, they might have been left to perish in our streets, 
or subjected to all the horrors of another passage over the 
Atlantic, to be sold to some other country. If they had been 
unprovided for upon our shores, they must have perished ; 
for they were as incapable of providing for themselves as 
the most neglected and ignorant child. Their condition, 
therefore, was at once improved, as soon as they came into 
the possession of our fathers. They dwelt under the same 
roof; their wants were all cared for; they worked shoulder 
to shoulder with their masters in the field ; sat by the same 
fire with the children, were taken to church with them on the 
Sabbath, and instructed in the great truths of Christianity, 
and when our fathers were made free, they were made free 
with them. There is nothing in these facts to diminish aught 
of England's guilt in the enormities of the slave-trade; but 
they certainly furnish some apology for our fathers in giving 
a home to those who were already bondmen." 

This town, under the lead of its ministers and religious 
men, was early identified with the temperance movement. 

As early as in 1825 it was voted "that the selectmen allow 
no bills for liquor on the highway." On the i6th of July, 
1829, the first public address upon this subject in this town, 
was delivered in the meeting house of this church, by William 
C. Goodell, of Boston. The speaker announced his topic as 
follows : "Ardent spirits ought to be banished from the land. 
What ought to be done can be done." The result of the 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 31 

lecture was the formation, then and there, of the first tem- 
perance society. It was called the "Essex Temperance Soci- 
ety on the principle of total abstinence," and the constitution 
was drawn up by the lecturer and the pastor of this church. 
Seven persons joined the society and signed the pledge that 
evening. Their names were Winthrop Low, Samuel Burnham, 
John Choate, John Perkins, Jonathan Eveleth, Francis Burn- 
ham, David Choate. Rev. Mr. Crowell's name was added 
shortly afterward. 

It is pleasant to add that, from the first, whenever the ques- 
tion of licensing the sale of intoxicating liquor has come up 
in the annual meetings of the town, it has received a decided 
negative, up to, and including, the present year. 

I have said nothing at all directly dear friends, about the 
influence of this church in distinctively religious and ecclesi- 
astial affairs. Had it been my object to give a. connected 
and comprehensive history of the society, that would have 
been the principal topic. And it would have been a very 
rich one. Not that in this or in any of the things that I Jiave 
mentioned, this church has been perfect. Not that she has 
not committed errors of judgment and made mistakes. 
There are things in the past that we may wish were different. 
But in the main, by the grace of God, she has made a noble 
record, not only in the development and preservation of piety 
and the graces of the Christian life here at home : but also 
in her contributions to Christian literature ( especially in the 
works of Wise and Cleaveland ) ; in her not inconsiderable 
influence in founding and aiding other churches in this countv ; 
in her collections and prayers for foreign missions ; and in 
the noble men she has sent out in such considerable numbers, 
to become earnest and able preachers of Jesus Christ. 

These things you will hear about from others. But after 
all that I have said, and after all that they shall say has been 
uttered, to the praise of God, and to the credit of our noble 
ancestry, the very richest and best of these past two centu- 



32 Congregational CJiurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

ries will still be unuttered and unutterable. These things 
that we can see and speak of, these visible and tangible results, 
are glorious, and we thank God for them ; but who can esti- 
mate the invisible influences and the untraceable forces that 
have been operating in all these years through the instrumen- 
tality of this church and her pastors ! The best work accom- 
plished by any church and in any pastorate consists in the 
tJiongJit that is stimulated, the spiritual impressiois that are 
imparted, the hopes and desires that are enkindled in the soul. 
These lead the soul heavenward. And who shall number, to- 
day the souls that have been cheered and guided in their 
earthly journey, by these influences, and that have been won to 
Christ and made heirs of everlasting life through the instrumen- 
tality of this ancient church ? We may seem to see them now, 
a joyous and blessed band, in the great company of those who 
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb. Our fathers and brethren, our neighbors and 
kindred, our acquaintances and friends are there. And do 
they not see us? Yea we must believe that this sanctuary is 
still sacred to them, and that these memories that we are re- 
viving are tJieir memories. They are ivith us to-day, uniting 
in our thanksgiving and joining in our praises to that God 
and that Christ who have made this sacred church to be to so 
many, as the very gate of heaven. God grant that we may 
triumph as they have triumphed, over all the hinderances and 
temptations and doubts that assail us, and enter with them at 
last through this gate, and into the blessedness of that heav- 
enly land. 

Finally, as we stand, to-day, upon the vantage-ground of 
this two hundredth anniversary, we can look forzvard as well 
as backward. Someone has said that to know any leading 
characteristic virtue of those from whom we have descended 
is not only to be influenced by it, but it is to be put under an 
obligation to imitate it, and keep it alive. Mediaeval knights 
committed to memory the records of noble acts in their 



Txvo Himdrcdth Anniversary. 33 

families, that they might maintain an equally high standard 
by their own chivalric deeds. So we are put upon our honor 
to maintain the high principles and to imitate the noble 
achievements of those who have gone before us. This anni- 
versary should be full of measureless edification and inspira- 
tion for us. It should arouse us to new earnestness and 
activity. We should feel as never before the vast opportuni- 
ties and solemn responsibilities that are ours. As we thank 
God for the past we should pray to him for the future. New 
problems confront us. The world has marvellously changed 
since the days of our fathers. The ends of the earth are 
given into our keeping. Shall we keep them /<?;- Jesus? The 
most diverse race elements, with the utmost variety of relig- 
ious and political and social prejudices, are pouring into our 
own nation. Shall the gospel permeate these masses? Shall 
it be the light of the world, the salt to save the people from 
corruption and decay? With us rests the issue. Intemper- 
ance and licensiousness, those old enemies, still stalk about 
the land. Shall we kill them with the sword of law and of 
love ? Mammon is as greedy as ever. Worldliness still draws 
its millions from the worship and service of God. It is ours 
to apply the gospel with its quickening and purifying and sav- 
ing power to all within the reach of our influence; and by 
the wonderful discoveries of modern times. God has brought 
the ivliole ivorld within our influence. The church of to-day 
needs the entire energy and complete consecration of all its 
members. As we remember the deeds of our ancestors let 
us then, not be rendered proud and self satisfied by them, but 
let us be spurred on to new faithfulness to the trusts that de- 
volve upon us. Let us determine to show the same spirit in 
meeting our responsibilities that they showed in meeting 
theirs. If we have difl"erent difficulties to contend with and 
difl"erent problems to solve, let us rejoice that we have the 
same gospel to work with, and the same Saviour for our helper 
and friend. Let us ever be true to that Saviour. Let us ever 



34 CongycgationaL Church and Parish, Essex. 

be loyal to this church and its covenant. Let us ever main- 
tain these same grand old evangelical doctrines, that in the 
past have brought forth, in abundance, such goodly fruitage. 
Let us contribute liberally and gladly to the support of the 
gospel, upon which rest the eternal hopes of man. Let us 
ho. personally interested and faithful to all these responsibilities ; 
and then that light, which so long ago was kindled on this 
sacred hill, shall continue to shine, to warm and to bless 
men. Long after we have left the scenes of earth and gone to 
join that great company of the redeemed, we shall be remem- 
bered, as we remember our ancestors to-day ; and to God the 
Father and to the Lord Jesus shall be the praise and the 
glory forever. Amen. 



F^ISTOI^IGAL DlSGOUr^SE 



BY PROF. E. p. CROWELL. 

While towns and colleges are making special observance 
of the fiftieth anniversary of their foundation, and the whole 
country has ever since 1874 been passing through a series of 
centennial celebrations of momentous political events, — 
reaching this very year that of the treaty of peace with Great 
Britain and the disbanding of the Revolutionary Army, — we 
certainly, Respected Friends, have no occasion to apologize 
for this assembling to-day to pay such regard as we may to 
an occurrence of so much greater antiquity, the planting 
in this community, two centuries ago, of this church and 
parish, which have been living on, the centre and spring of 
the religious and almost of the secular life of this people 
during these two hundred years. 

You do not need to be reminded that it is now ninety years 
and more since the frame of the present church edifice (which 
is the fourth), with its oaken posts, was raised on the spot, 
which forty years earlier than that, had, at the erection of the 
third church building, been consecrated to the worship of 
God, and which-has, ever since 1752, been known as meeting- 
house hill. 

As, lately as 1 864 the location and ground-plan of the second 
meeting-house, erected in 1718, near the site of the present 
town pound, were marked perfectly by the underpinning stones, 



36 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

remaining for all that intervening period a memorial — like 
the twelve stones taken out of Jordan, and pitched in Gilgal — 
of the place where were manifested the power and grace of 
the Lord toward us in the earlier years of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. 

But for the event we are now commemorating our thoughts 
must ascend past all these intermediate stages of this paro- 
chial history, beyond everything that has taken place in the 
life of the nation and the province, to a point within the limits 
of the earliest colonial period, when, in the first meeting- 
house, built three years before, at the North End, near the 
site of the house and barns of Mr. Nehemiah Dodge, this 
church was constituted, and the Rev. John Wise ordained its 
pastor on the I2th of August ( O. S. ) in the year 1683. 

The mere fact that our church and parish have reached so 
venerable an age is however the least of our reasons for ob- 
serving this bi-centennial. These special services in honor 
of this birthday are made in the highest degree becoming be- 
cause of the qualities and the doings of the ministers and 
the laymen of this Religious Society in all the past. Be- 
cause of its vigorous life and its beneficient career in every 
generation from the beginning until now, it is meet and our 
bounden duty to consider these years of many generations, 
as one epoch now closes, and we stand on the threshold of 
another. 

Through tradition and the printed page* you are well ac- 
quainted with this chapter of church and parish history, and 
there is no need, if there were time, of my undertaking to 
tell the whole story, full of interest as it is. I only ask you 
to review with me three passages in this history, which per- 
haps best illustrate what these twin institutions have been, 
the changes they have passed through and the work they 

]f *Historj of the Town of Essex from 1634 to 186S by the late Rev. Robert 
Crowell D. D., Pastor of the Consjregational Church in Essex. Essex: 
Published bv the Town. 1S68, 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. ^y 

have done, and which may therefore most suitably be recalled 
to our thoughts, and accounted most worthy of permanent 
remembrance. 

I. The first of these passages is, of course, that which 
describes the circumstances of the founding of this Ecclesi- 
astical body. 

If then we inquire what it was which brought about the 
establishment of this church and parish, we cannot fail to 
find the real cause and the explanation in the character of 
the people of Chebacco — their piety, their intelligence, and 
their force of will combined. 

You recollect that the great current of emigration from 
England, beginning in 1620 and bringing to these shores 
some twenty thousand souls, had nearly ceased to flow about 
forty years before the time to which we are now turning our 
attention ; and though not a few of the first settlers were still 
living, a large proportion of the inhabitants here were now, 
in 1683, Englishmen of the second generation, many of them, 
to be sure, born in the mother country. Their fathers had 
come bringing them from various parts of the ancestral land ; 
from Bristol in the southwest, on the banks of the Avon, 
through which Wycklifi"e's ashes had flowed to the sea; from 
the flourishing cathedral city of Norwich, the capital of Nor- 
folk county on the east coast, where in 1580 (as our highest 
authority on the history of Congregationalism has told us,) 
by the prompting and under the guidance of Robert Browne, 
the first church in modern days had been formed, which was 
intelligently Congregational in its platform and processes ; from 
old Ipswich also, the capital of Sufi'olk county, noted as the 
birth-place of Cardinal Wolsey and for its Grammar School, 
revived by him, though founded in the reign of Edward the 
Fourth ; and from various smaller villages in its vicinity, such 
as Groton, the old home of Governor VVinthrop. 

And these new- world founders were of the very choicest 
fruit of the Protestant reformation. The dwellers in Chebacco 



38 Co7igregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

between the years 1676 and 1683 were thus of the bone and 
sinew of a town of which Edward Johnson, an author of the 
seventeenth century, in his History of New England, said : 
"The peopHng of Ipswich is by men of good rank and 
quaHty, many of them having the revenue of large lands in 
England, before they came to this country;" and of which 
Cotton Mather, in 1638, declared: "Here was a renowned 
church consisting of such illuminated christians, that their 
pastors, in the exercise of their ministry, might think that 
they had to do, not so much with disciples as with judges. "^ 

These Chebacco residents were the sons and daughters of 
the original occupants of a territory, of which, in common 
with all those settled in Massachusetts Bay, a recent writer 
has remarked that "there was in the early emigration to this 
region, besides the educated Puritan clergymen, quite another 
admixture than that of learning, a sturdy yeomanry, led hither 
by the desire to better its condition and create a new religi- 
ous world around it.". 

These our ancestors of two hundred years ago were among 
the freemen of a body politic, of which, what Rev. William 
Stoughton said in his election sermon in 1668 of all New 
England was preeminently true, that "God sifted a whole 
nation that he might send choice grain into this wilderness." 

The men and women who proposed to themselves the 
founding of this church, belonged to a municipality where 
already for forty-one years there had been a free school, and 
a standing town rule that the selectmen should see that no 
child fail to be taught reading and the principles of religion 
and the capital laws of the country; where for thirty-two 
years there had been an endowed Grammar School, at which 
some thirty-five boys had already been fitted for Harvard 
College. 

Not only had the town of Ipswich, of which Chebacco was 
an integral part, thus laid a foundation for the intelligence 
and virtue of all within its borders, as well as reproduced the 



Txtw Hundjrdth Ataiivcrsary. 39 

local civil institutions of the old country and aided in setting 
up the fabric of a State government, but it was now, accord- 
ing to the historian Palfrey, "the second town in the colony in 
importance, having a larger degree of talent and intelligence 
than almost any other," and in King Philip's war, (i.e. 1675) 
"one of the centres of intelligence, of whose church several of 
the officers and many of the troops, who did good service, 
were members." And it was also now experiencing to the full 
the stimulating and developing effect of the political agitations 
of all that formative period. 

In the contests between the crown and the colony over the 
civil rights claimed by the latter, which had been almost con- 
tinually going on throughout the reigns of the first and 
second Charles, intermitted only during the few years of the 
ascendancy of Cromwell and the Commonwealth, and which 
were to terminate with the unrighteous taking away of the 
colonial charter, the very next year, 1684, by Charles the 
second, the citizens of this as well as of the other parts of 
Ipswich were as deeply interested spectators or participants, 
as any of you were in the war of the rebellion, or in the state 
and Federal election campaigns which have taken place since. 
And largely by these experiences were their mental powers 
made acute, their love of liberty inflamed, their manhood 
moulded and disciplined. 

The church at Ipswich centre which was now about a half- 
century old, founded in May, 1634, the year of the settlement 
of Chebacco, had been first under the ministrations of Rev. 
Nathaniel Ward of Cambridge University and formerly a 
lawyer in England, of so acute and vigorous a mind, and so 
learned in jurisprudence that he was appointed by the civil 
authorities to compose the earliest statute code of the colony 
— the one hundred fundamental laws styled the "Body of 
Liberties" — which Palfrey calls a great monument of his wis- 
dom and learning, and which he says will compare favorably 
with other works of its class in any age. 



40 Congregational Churcli and Parish, Essex. . 

Its ministers, during the childhood and youth of those in 
Chebacco now in mature Hfe, had been the colleagues John 
Norton of the same English University, also distinguished for 
learning and for .his stirring eloquence, who took a leading 
part in the synod which constructed the Cambridge platform 
of faith and discipline in 1648, and Nathaniel Rogers, also an 
English University man, whom Cotton Mather, in 1702, called 
the Holy zvid regarded as "one of the greatest divines that 
ever set foot upon the American strand." 

For nearly the thirty years (prior to 1683) during which 
the Chebacco people who were to embark in this new enter- 
prise had been on the stage of active life, the religious welfare 
of Ipswich had been nominally cared for by three spiritual 
guides at once. One of them, the venerable Thomas Cobbet, 
educated at Oxford, driven for conscience sake to the new 
world, who through his talents, erudition and skill as a writer 
and theologian had stood in the foremost rank of New Eng- 
land divines, was now, to be sure, at the infirm age of seventy- 
five. 

The second, John Rogers, a son of Rev. Nathaniel, was 
rather in the position of an assistant, having charge of the 
Thursday lecture, and chiefly absorbed in his other profession 
as the principal physician of the town — a scholar and a sci- 
entist, elected President of Harvard College, and inaugu- 
rated to that office, it so happened, the very day this Chebacco 
church was constituted. But the third of these colleagues in 
the pastoral office, the Rev. VV^illiam Hubbard, born in Eng- 
land, but a graduate of Harvard, regarded by a contemporary 
historian as "certainly for many years the most eminent min- 
ister in the county of Essex, equal to any in the Province 
for learning and candor, and" superior to all his contemporaries 
as a writer," described from other contemporary allusions "as 
a stately, affable and accomplished gentleman, the ideal coun- 
try pastor in a highly intellectual community," was precisely 
at this juncture in the mature vigor of manhood, and active 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 41 

and influential in all the ecclesiastical affairs of the whole 
town. 

These statements may be sufficient to remind us what were 
the antecedents and the political training, and what the educa- 
tional and religious privileges of our fathers, who took into 
serious consideration the spiritual interests and needs of this 
growing and thriving precinct of Ipswich, at their first meet- 
ing for consultation on that subject, at the house of William 
Cogswell, a little north of the site of Mr. Albert Cogswell's, in 
February, 1677. 

Their character, then, admirably qualified them for enter- 
ing on this great and good work. But who actually took the 
initiative in it? Was it these associate pastors at the centre? 
By no manner of means. We discover not a trace of their 
ever holding preaching services in this remote but populous 
part of the town, or of their taking any measures for the es- 
tablishment of stated religious worship here, or of their even 
encouraging any movement in that direction. There seems 
to have been on their part a most singular inaction and an 
indifference to the spiritual welfare of this large part of their 
flock, all the more strange because Prince's ChristicDi History 
tells us that "a gradual decline of religion and morals grew 
very visible and threatening as early as 1670 and was gener- 
ally complained of and bitterly bewailed by the pious ; and 
yet much more in 1680." Was it really indifference? Felt's 
History of Ipswich makes the unconsciously sarcastic state- 
ment that in 1677 "Rev. Mr. Hubbard was tried, in having a 
part of his people at Chebacco much engaged in endeavors 
to have Mr. Jeremiah Shepard for their minister; his chief 
objection being that Mr. Shepard had not become a member 
of any church." Indeed ! Then he did have otJier objec- 
tions, also. And this little piece of evidence is sufficient 
to prove that Mr. Hubbard's position as to this project was 
not one of support or approval. 

When the historian Palfrey gives us some insight into his 



42 Congregational CJuircJi and Parish, Essex. 

character in the declaration that "Hubbard took no generous 
part in the great poHtical struggles of his time, and that the 
tone of his History of Nezv England xs couri\y and timid;" 
when we hear not a syllable of remonstrance from this Ipswich 
minister in unison with the outspoken opposition of his fellow- 
townsmen to Governor Andros' tyranny in 1687, and learn 
that he was appointed by that governor the acting president 
of Harvard College in 1688, we cannot but infer that such a 
man sided with his parishioners at the centre, in positive 
opposition to the loss of so much taxable property, from his 
parish, as would be caused by the creation of another parish 
at Chebacco. 

At any rate it is plain that without the counsel or sanction, 
without the help or sympathy of their spiritual advisers, the 
movement for the founding of this church and parish began 
with the residents of this village themselves, from their own 
deep sense of the value and the need of better religious privi- 
leges for air in their community. Recall their own statement 
of the reasons for their acting in this matter, and of the motive 
which inspired them. 

The record reads: "At this [the first] meeting, the inhab- 
itants of Chebacco, considering the great straits they were in 
for want of the means of grace among themselves ;" and : "that 
we might obtain the ministry of the word among ourselves, 
which is our heart's desire;" and further: "that we might be 
eased of our long and tiresome Sabbath days' journeys to the 
place of public worship in our town ; for some hundreds of 
our inhabitants do not nor with convenience can attend the 
public worship at town ; and of so considerable a number of 
the inhabitants as are amongst us, scarce fifty persons the year 
throughout do attend the public worship of God on the 
Sabbath days." And their first petition to the General Court. 
June I, 1677, mentions, as a reason for having liberty to build 
a meeting house, their desire "to prevent the profanation of 
the Sabbath, they living so remote." 



Tivo HundrcdtJi Anniversary. 43 

Several things in their movement are worthy of particular 
notice, for a full appreciation of what these men were and 
what they accomplished. 

One is their respect for authority, their careful conformity 
to existing requirements in ecclesiastical as well as civil 
affairs, the law-loving ^nd law-abiding spirit manifest in them, 
saddled though they were with the burden of helping to sup- 
port three ministers at once, without being permitted to have 
the preaching services of either of them, even in the winter, 
and deeply conscious that the management of their own 
religious affairs by themselves and for themselves was a part 
of their inalienable rights. 

Another is the clear, logical, masterly way in which they 
present and maintain their cause before the General Court, in 
what they call "A declaration and vindication of the transac- 
tions of the inhabitants of Chebacco in the precincts of Ipswich, 
in reference to their late proceedings in obtaining the ministry 
of the Gospel among them." I presume you are all familiar 
with this remarkable document ; but I cannot refrain from quot- 
ing their statement of a few of the arguments and the charges 
Ipswich had brought against them, and the points they so 
aptly make in reply : 

"I. Thej [The Ipswich selectmen] alleged that the war was not yet past, 
and God's judgments were yet hanging over us, and the town was at great 
charge; to which we replied, that when we sought to have the means of 
grace amongst ourselves, we looked at it as our duty ; and therefore, when 
the judgments of God were amongst us, that it was rather an argument 
to stir us up to our duty than to lie under the omission of it ; neither would 
we put the town to charge, either to erect our meeting-house, or maintain 
our minister." 

"3. They alleged we belonged to the town, and therefore, were obliged 
to help the town to bear the charges, and they could not spare our money; 
to which we replied that they alleged, at the General Court, that we paid 
only 17 or i8 pounds to the ministers of Ipswich; and there were three 
ministers to whom the town paid 200 pounds per annum; and if the town 
would supply us with one of them, we would pay one of them fifty pounds 
toward his maintenance yearly. Then they replied, that could not be ; and 
that our want was onlv in the winter, and if we could get a minister to 



44 Congregational ChurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

preach to us in the winter, they would free us from paving to the minister 
in the town, in the winter season ; and we should come to the public worship 
in the town in the summer, and pay there. We put ourselves in a posture 
for the entertaining the gospel, and were willing to lay aside our self-interests, 
that we might build a house for the worship of God, which we were the 
more vigorous in, by reason that we had experienced much, in a little time, 
of the sweetness and good of that privilege in enjoying the means amongst 
Qurselves, whereby the generality of our inhabitants could comfortably 
attend the public worship of God. The house that we have been busied 
about for this place of public worship, we ever intended for such an end, 
ahvavs with this provisal, that this Honored Court do authorise the same, 
or countenance our proceedings therein : if not, we shall ever own ourselves 
loyal subjects to authority; and therefore, the same is erected upon a pro- 
priety, that if this Honored Court see not meet to favor our proceedings, 
we may turn our labors to our best advantage. These things we desire to 
leave with this Honored Court, as a declaration of our cause, and a vin- 
dication of our innocency, and are ready further to inform this Honored 
Court, in what thev may please to demand, or in what may be alleged 
against oiu" proceedings." 

A third thing worthy of notice in these proceedings is the 
deHberateness with which they set themselves at work, the 
skilful measures they adopted and the indomitable persever- 
ance they exercised in overcoming the obstacles which in 
succession blocked their way at every step. At their first 
meeting, in February, 1677, the inhabitants of Chebacco 
unanimously drew up a petition and soon after presented it 
to the town, desiring liberty to call a minister to preach among 
themselves. This the town neither granted nor denied, but 
would not vote upon it. Chebacco then petitioned the General 
Court, only to be referred back (June i, 1677 ) to the town ; 
which by direction of the Court made answer at the next 
session of that body in October. But even then, the Legisla- 
ture, "considering what was alleged by Ipswich," would only 
"judge itnot meet to grant the petition at present'; butseriously 
commended it to the town "to contrive as soon as may be for 
the accomodation of the petitioners." By vote of the town, 
March 2, 1678, the Selectmen held several conferences with 
the Chebacco leaders but without any result. The latter next 
asked leave to invite Mr. Jeremiah Shcpard to preach to them. 



Tivo Hundredth Ainiiversary. 45 

to which none of the town fathers objected and some of them 
assented. After he had preached a few Sabbaths beginning 
with January 19, 1679, there was an intimation "from an honor- 
able brother" at the centre, that the church were dissatisfied 
with the proceedings here, and so he ceased preaching. Feb- 
ruary 4, a second petition was presented to the town, the only 
effect of which was that the town sent to the General Court, 
March 15, a petition and address with grave charges against 
Chebacco. 

" Not long after this," as the records tell us, "the sills of 
the meeting-house were laid in Mr. William Cogswell's land 
and the timber in place ready to raise. While we were in this 
great conflict, that all things seemed to act against us, some 
women, without the knowledge of their husbands, and with 
the advice of some men, went to other towns and got help 
and raised that house that we had intended for a meeting- 
house, if we could get liberty." 

This was the heinous offence for which Mrs. William Goodhue, 
Mrs. Thomas Varney, and Mrs. Abraham Martin were arrested, 
tried in Ipswich, found guilty of contempt of authority and 
bound over to the next Court in Salem. Although this tran- 
saction complicated matters still more and somewhat embar- 
rassed the Chebacco fathers and husbands, they went on with 
the preparation of the "Declaration of their cause and Vin- 
dication of their innocency," and duly submitted the document 
to the General Court, which on the 28th of May (1679) passed 
an order, which together with the action of the committee 
appointed by it is to be considered as the act of incorporation 
or charter of the Parish.* 

And so in April 1680 the house is dedicated, and in re- 
sponse to their call and by leave of the Great and General 
Court, Mr. Wise begins his preaching in it. It was not, how- 
ever, until February of the next year, 1681, that the people 
were released from taxation for the support of the ministry 

* See Appendix A. 



46 Congregational CJiurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

at the centre ; and although the church members Hving in 
Chebacco made request, September 6, 1681, for dismission 
from the mother church, in order to organize the new one, 
they were unable to obtain release from its bonds for nearly 
two years more. 

With such steady persistence did these children of the 
Puritans, engrossed though they were with the work of the 
farm, the mill, the shop, the ship-yard and the fishery, push 
on this most noble and laudable project, for six long years, 
until their efforts were crowned with complete success. 

When you look carefully over their doings and read their 
own plain and methodical statement of the facts in the case, 
entered upon their records for permanent preserv^ation and 
the knowledge of their posterity, you know not which most 
to admire, in your survey of this protracted contest, the un- 
conquerable determination of Englishmen to gain full pos- 
session of their religious rights, for the enjoyment of which 
they had been brought, from a land of plenty they could see 
no more, into all the hardships and privations of the new 
world, and to leave "unstained what there they found, — free- 
dom to worship God" as their consciences dictated — or the 
shrewdness and the skill with which these, by no means "rude 
forefathers of the hamlet" pressed their rightful claim to a 
meeting-house and a minister of their own, to a triumphant 
conclusion on that 12th of August, 1683; when in that 
crowded audience-room, this church of Christ was organized, 
the covenant entered into and Mr. Wise formally set apart to 
the work of the gospel ministry and the pastoral care of 
Chebacco parish. 

Consider, further, who the individual leaders in this matters 
were, — known to us, as they are in part, through their de- 
scendants. 

The first committee of conference with the Ipswich select- 
men, were William Cogswell, then about sixty-four years of 
age, John Andrews, Senior, sixty, Thomas Low, fifty-one, and 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 47 

William Goodhue, forty-three. Two of these, Cogswell and 
Andrews, were also on the committee of four, who acted for 
the church at its organization, and are the only ones mentioned 
by name, of its original members. A third on that organizing 
committee was William Story, aged sixty-nine, and the fourth 
was John Burnham, sixty-seven, one of the first two deacons. 
John Choate, at this time a young man of twenty- two, later 
on in the first pastorate, also held the office of deacon. These 
men we may then reasonably regard as the seven pillars in 
this new structure. 

William Cogswell was a descendant of Lord Humphrey 
Cogswell, whose coat of arms dated from the year 1447, ^nd 
was one of the three sons of the wealthy merchant, John 
Cogswell, a passenger in the ship Angel Gabriel, and the 
progenitor of all of that name in this town. One of William's 
great-grandsons, Jonathan Cogswell, was also a deacon from 
1780 until his death in 1812, at the age of eighty-six; and 
another. Col. Jonathan Cogswell, who died in 18 19, Avas an 
officer in the Revolution. From William's brother John have 
descended two of your bi-centennial committee — one of them 
a deacon for twenty-one years already. 

John Andrews, Sen., a freeman of Ipswich in 1642, was 
one of the six who joined Mr. Wise in that preparatory cau- 
cus at the centre four years later (Aug. 22, 1687), where, 
according to a reliable reporter, "they discoursed and con- 
cluded that it was not the town's duty anyway, to assist that 
ill method of raising money, which Sir Edmund Andros had 
ordered, without a general assembly;" and in his resistance 
in town meeting the next day, to this attempted illegal taxa- 
tion, which, as the vote of Ipswich declared, "doth infrino-e 
their liberty as free-born English subjects of His Majesty.'' 
With the others, Mr. Andrews was arrested, denied the writ of 
habeas corpus, imprisoned in Boston, by a packed jury — 
principally strangers and foreigners — found guilty of con- 
tempt and high misdemeanor, made ineligible for office, fined 



48 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

£T)0 and costs, and put under bonds of ;i^500. From Mr. 
Andrews have descended all of that name in town, among 
them his grandson, John Andrews, a deacon in the church for 
many years until his death in 1750, and the late Col. William 
Andrews, a man who was said to have filled many offices of 
trust and honor in town with singular zeal and fidelity. 

There is good reason also for believing that this John 
Andrews, Sen., was a son of the Captain Andrews, who com- 
manded the ship Angel Gabriel on the voyage when she 
was wrecked on the coast of Maine, and who was the uncle 
of the boys John and Thomas — sons of Robert and Mary 
(Andrews) Burnham of Norwich, Eng. — sailing to this coun- 
try under his charge and (with another brother) the ancestors 
of all that wide-spread and numerous family. This John 
Burnham, who was one of the first deacons, was the grand- 
father of a John Burnham who was deacon from 1732, till his 
death in 1746, and the great grandfather of Thomas Burnham, 
a deacon thirty-four years from 1765 to 1799, who for many 
years lined the psalm and set the tune in Church, and was 
also a school teacher. Among others of his descendants, were 
Maj. John Burnham, who served in the Continental Army 
throughout the Revolutionary war, styled by his Colonel, 
(afterwards Gov. Brooks) "one of the best disciplinarians and 
most gallant officers of the Revolution," a member of the 
church here for many years until his removal to Derry, N.H., 
in 1798, where he died in 1843 aged 94; and Maj. John's 
brother Samuel, a man of sterling worth and a leading citizen 
throughout a long life in Dunbarton, N. H., to which he re- 
moved about 1765. Four of his sons and sixteen others of 
his descendants were graduates of Colleges. From the 
brother of Dea. John Burnham also descended the four 
deacons of this name in the present century. 

From that same town of Norwich, England, came also in 
1637, William Story, a carpenter, one of this committee of 
conference with the selectmen, and one of the original church 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 49 

members. His son, Seth Story, was a deacon from 1694 till 
his death in 1732. His grandson, Seth Story, was a deacon 
and afterwards a ruling elder, until his death in 1786 at the 
age of ninty-three ; and his grandson, Zechariah Story, was 
a deacon forty-four years until his death in 1774, at the age 
of ninety. They were both farmers and lived at the Falls, 
near the spot where now stands the house of Mr. Adoniram 
Story. Of this Dea. Zechariah Story, a daughter, Deborah, 
a true mother in Israel, married Wesley Burnham, and lived 
to the age of ninety-eight; and the children of one of her 
sons (Wesley Burnham, 2d), were Molly, Nathan, Asa, 
Michael, Henry, Anne, Samuel, Richard, Ruth and Wesley 
Burnham 3d ; and the wife of tJiis Wesley was Hannah a 
granddaughter of that same Elder Seth Story and the mother 
of seven children, whom you have well known as active and 
useful members of this church, within a generation. 

From a brother of William Story have descended the rest 
of the name in this place, of whom I can only mention, be- 
cause of their prominence in parish affairs, or of their con- 
nection with the history of this Church, — William Story, a 
merchant in Boston, a leading man in the Separatist Society 
there in 1746, and a delegate from it on the Council which 
organized the Separate church here that year, some of whose 
letters, still preserved written in a clear, beautiful hand, and well 
expressed, indicate a degree of culture beyond the average of 
that time ; "Mastdr" Joseph Story, a Revolutionary soldier, 
a school teacher for thirty years and parish clerk for a long 
period ; and Esq. Jonathan Story, the able and impartial 
magistrate, the influential and useful citizen of the present 
century, often holding offices in the parish. 

Dea. Thomas Low, (a son of the first settler of that name 
in Ipswich and a grandson of Capt. John Low, commander of 
the ship Ambrose and acting rear-admiral of a fleet of twelve 
ships sailing to Salem in 1630,) was born in 1632, was a dea- 
con from 1683 until his death in 171 2, for several years was 



50 Congregational Chnrch and Parish, Essex. 

parish clerk, and prominent in all the affairs of the community. 
It is on land which he owned, and near his homestead that we 
are gathered to-day. Among his descendants have been 
Lieut. Stephen Low, killed in battle in the French and Indian 
war ; Major Caleb Low and Capt. David Low, soldiers of the 
Revolution ; and of this century Capt. Winthrop Low, the 
first one to rise to take the pledge, when volunteers were 
called for, after the first temperance address here, in 1829, 
" a consistent, liberal supporter of the institutions of religion" 
and fully and heartily identified with all the interests of the 
parish, as one of its most influential and wealthy members. 
William Goodhue, the fourth on the conference committee, 
(a son of William Goodhue, freeman of Ipswich, in 1636, who 
was said to have been one of the most influential men in the 
colony of Massachusetts, conferring honor upon his name and 
family by his many virtues), married Hannah, an Ipswich 
crirl, a daughter of Rev. Francis Dane, afterwards of Andover. 
She was one of the three wide awake, fearless and energetic 
women, who committed the enormous crime of procuring or 
abetting the raising of a meeting-house in Chebacco. As this 
affair attests, she was well matched with her husband, who, 
believing with his pastor that "we have a good God and a 
good King, and should do well to stand on our privileges," 
shared with Mr. Wise and Mr. Andrews the glory of impris- 
onment and fine by Andros, and as the historian, Pitkin 
says of him, and his associates, ■' may Justly claim a dis- 
tinguished rank among the patriots of America." Mr. Goodhue 
was one of the selectmen, and a representative at several dif- 
ferent times, was a deacon in the church, a leading man in the 
parish, and was "highly respected, eminently useful and greatly 
beloved." Taking into consideration the fact that he was 
the only one of the seven who was just then in the early 
prime of manhood, it can hardly be doubted that he composed 
that able memorial, the "Declaration and Vindication of the 
transactions of the people of Chebacco." One of Dea. 



Tivo HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. 5 r 

Goodhue's sons was Rev. Francis Goodhue who graduated at 
Harvard College, in 1699, and was pastor of a church in 
Jamaica, L. I. ; and a descendant of his brother is now in the 
same office of deacon here. 

John Choate, the last of the early deacons, the eldest son 
of the first settler of that name, and grandson of Goodman 
Choate of Groton, England, (a friend of Gov. Winthrop), 
was born in 1661, and was an office-bearer in the church from 
1 71 2 till his death in 1733. It was his granddaughter, the 
wife of Gen. Michael Farley who sent three sons into the 
Revolutionary Army, and when the youngest of them, a boy 
of sixteen, was about to start for the seat of war, "charo-ed 
him to behave like a man;" and who, on a sudden call for 
ammunition for a company marching on short notice, with 
her own hands filled their powder horns from a barrel of 
powder in the attic of her house. John's brother Benjamin 
was a graduate of Harvard in 1703, and a pastor at Kingston, 
N. H. One of his nephews, whose name was also John, was 
a man of great ability and eminence in public life from 1731 
until his death in i 'jGG, as Judge of Probate and of the Court of 
Common Pleas, Executive councillor, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, and Col. of the 8th Mass. regiment and 
Judge Advocate General in Pepperell's successful expedition 
against Louisbourg in 1745. "Another was Francis, a ruling 
elder in the church for thirty-one years until his death in 
1777, and the great grandfather of Dea. David Choate and 
Hon. Rufus Choate. A grand-nephew of Dea. John Choate, 
Hon. Stephen Choate was also a deacon from 1765 to 1783. 

What and where, but for these seven men, we might well 
ask, would be this virtuous, well-instructed and prosperous 
community to-day? 

Not by direction of any church authorities were these re- 
ligious institutions planted in that early time on this ground ; 
but by the enlightened piety, and the resolute temper of in- 
dividual laymen, animated by a common spirit, and unselfishly 



52 Congregational Church arid Parish, Essex. 

seeking the highest welfare of the whole people, whose rep- 
resentatives and leaders were these our seven heroes, these 
heads of our tribes, William Cogswell, John Andrews, John 
Burnham, William Story, Thomas Low, William Goodhue, 
John Choate, the master-workmen in the rearing of the goodly 
walls of this our Zion, upon the foundation of the apostles 
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner- 
stone. It was their qualities of character, the inherited in- 
telligence, the sense of duty, the godly zeal, and the tenacity 
of purpose of these Englishmen of the second generation, 
quickened, developed, made stalwart by their long discipline 
in a school of trying experiences, that created this twin 
organization of church and parish on this territory. And 
therefore let their names be held in highest honor and in ever- 
lasting remembrance. Aye, and they shall be. This eccle- 
siastical structure is of itself their ever-during monument, 
for they "builded better than they knew," and through the 
permanence of its strength and beauty, though dying, behold 
they live. We think of them, as "each in his narrow cell for- 
ever laid" in yonder ancient grave-yard, which they had, just 
about that time, set apart and put in order, — we say of them 
that they, like all the dead, "forgotten lie, alike unknowing 
and unknown," but in their work their name liveth evermore. 
It is no slight testimony to "the intelligence of these men, 
that in their search for a minister for Chebacco, they dis- 
cerned the worth of such a man as Mr. Wise, and by no 
means the least of their services to religion that they selected 
and secured him for their pastor. The special address to be 
presently given on this occasion upon his life, pastorate and 
character, renders unnecessary any mention of this eminent 
theologian and patriot here. 

It is a matter of some interest, that we have, preserved to 
us, at least one relic of this first pastorate, one symbol (per- 
haps it may be called) of the unity of the successive genera- 
tions of Christian believers here. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 53 

This sacramental cup, marked "C. C." (Chebacco Church), 
"1712," was in use six years in the first meeting-house; it 
was taken in the hands of Mr. Wise at every communion 
service for thirteen years; it was passed to the communicants 
by Deacons Goodhue and Story and Choate ; in remembrance 
of their divine Lord it was pressed many times to the hps of 
some of the orignal members, who on this day in August, 1683, 
took upon them the covenant vows of this church, and, dur- 
ing the two hundred years that have now terminated, has 
been in constant use. 

May this chahce be sacredly treasured in the future and 
aid in ministering to the spiritual life of an ever increasing 
company, in this goodly fellowship from century to century, 
until the Kingdom of God shall fully come. 

II. The second period of special interest in the religious 
history of Chebacco includes the division of the church near 
the close of the ministry of the immediate successor of Mr. 
Wise, Rev. Theophilus Pickering, and the formation of a new 
one in 1746, with the settlement of its minister, Rev. John 
Cleaveland in 1747; and the reunion of these two churches 
on the eve of the Revolution, through the influence of Mr. 
Cleaveland, whose pastorate over the united church continued 
until his death in 1799. 

To see clearly why and how this new church came into 
being, we need to set before us the religious situation, and to 
glance at Mr. Pickering's life and character, as disclosed chiefly 
through traditions and manuscript-papers in possession of 
members of the Pickering family and his own printed letters. 

The son of John and Sarah (Burrill) Pickering, he was born 
Sept. 28, 1700, in the house owned by his father, which was 
built in the year 165 i by John Pickering from England, — the 
house now standing on Broad St., Salem, which has always 
been in the possession of the Pickering family, is in perfect 
preservation, and still owned by members of the same family 
and name. 



54 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

Theophilus was the elder of two sons ; and his younger 
brother Timothy, was the father of Col. Timothy Pickering 
of the Revolution, Secretary of War and afterwards of State 
in Washington's second administration. 

John Pickering, their father, was by occupation a farmer. 
He was one of the Selectmen of Salem, and a Representative 
to the General Court. Dying in 1722, his "decease" is re- 
corded in Felt's Annals of Salem, as a "loss to the com- 
munity." 

Theophilus Pickering was educated at Harvard College, 
graduating there in 17 19, in a class of twenty- three members, 
thirteen of whom became clergymen. He was an earnest 
student, from his early years. In the first years of his college 
life the works of Derham on "Physico-Theology" and "Astro- 
Theology" enlisted his strong interest, and thoughout his col- 
lege course, he gave much care and thought to extracting and 
transcribing, from these and other works in his "Extracta 
Notabilia," whatever seemed to him most worthy of preserva- 
tion. A duodecimo manuscript volume of two hundred pages, 
with from fifty to sixty lines on a page, in clear and minute 
handwriting, and with diagrams, also drawn by him, — the 
whole copied from works that were published during his col- 
lege life, — is still preserved in the family, and bears witness to 
his patient industry, as well as to his interest in the subject. 

He possessed a taste also for the classical languages, with a 
familiarity and readiness in the use of Latin, and skill in the 
use of language in general. His scholarly tastes are well 
illustrated by the fact of his collecting a valuable library, 
many of the choicest volumes of which are still preserved.* 

After graduation Mr. Pickering taught school in Bridge- 
water for a year and a half; and in 1721 he preached regu- 
larly for some months in that town. In January, 1722, a 
committee of the General Court engaged him to preach as a 
missionary at Tiverton on -Narragansett Bay, and he was 
employed in that work for nearly a year and a half. 
* See Appenciix B. 



T%vo Hundredth Aiuiivcrsary. 55 

During the last sickness of Rev. Mr. Wise, in April 1725, 
Mr. Pickering was invited by this parish to supply the pulpit 
four Sabbaths and continued preaching here throu"-h the 
spring and summer. Receiving then a call to the pastorate 
■ he'accepted it and was ordained in the second meeting-house, 
October 13, 1725. The next year he built the house now 
occupied by Mr. Edwin Hobbs and made it his home the 
rest of his life, boarding, as his note-book states, in the family 
of Capt. Jonathan Cogswell from March 31, 1725 to June 
16, 1736 and after that in his own house. He was never 
married. 

Mr. Pickering was remarkable for his physical streno-th and 
muscular activity. He was noted also for his mechanical 
genius. As a skilful artificer in wood and in metal at the 
forge, he made some household articles for his own use 
which have descended in the family. And the combined 
study-table and desk of his own invention and make, which 
served for his sermon-writing and his books of reference is 
still in use in the house in which he was born. In keeping 
his financial accounts he was scrupulous and exact, and a high 
sense of honor guided all his business relations with others. 

For about seventeen of the tw^enty-two years of his min- 
istry Mr. Pickering seems to have given entire satisfaction to 
his people and to have been influential with them. In 1734 
the parish voted that "in consideration of their love and affec- 
tion to the Rev. Theophilus Pickering, they do freely, fully 
and absolutely convey to him all their right, title and interest 
in the land enclosed by the fence around his house and the 
well dug by him on the southeasterly side of the road." On 
account of the depreciation of the currency, they also added 
at this time fifty pounds to his salary and continued to increase 
it from time to time for the same reason, until it amounted to 
^^232 per annum. Of his faithfulness and earnestness as a 
minister of the gospel we find evidence in the addition to the 
church during his pastorate, of about two hundred members. 



56 Congregational ChurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

nearly as many as during that of Mr. Wise, though it was 
only half as long ; and in the occurrence of at least one exten- 
sive revival of religion, the first in the history of this church, 
as the fruit of which seventy-six persons made a profession 
of religion. 

The published testimony of his church after his death, re- 
specting him, was: "We at Chebacco have (as we verily be- 
lieve) had among us a man of God, a learned, orthodox, 
prudent and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, though not 
without failings, even as others ; one whom we heard teaching 
and preaching the Gospel with pleasure, and we hope with 
profit ; and whose memory will we trust be ever dear to us." 

Of the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, during his 
first tour through New England, in 1740, and of the remark- 
able religious revival which followed it, which has been 
usually called "The Great Awakening," Mr. Pickering was no 
uninterested observer. 

When the renowned Evangelist, on this excursion eastward, 
on which he set out from Boston, Sept. 29th of that year, 
preached at Ipswich, on the hill in front of the first Congre- 
gational meeting-house, to some thousands, Mr. Pickering, as 
he tells us in one of his letters, was one of the many who 
went up from Chebacco and listened to his surpassing elo- 
quence. This was the occasion of which Mr. Whitefield 
wrote: "The Lord gave me freedom, and there was a great 
melting in the Congregation." On his return from the east, 
he also preached at Ipswich, Oct. 4th. 

Soon after, or at least early in the next year, the religious 
interest began to manifest itself in this community. Of a full 
account of it written in 1747, a part is as follows: 

In the year 1741 and onwards it pleased God, out of his rich, free, and 
sovereign grace to bring upon the niinds of many in this parish a deep 
concern about their future state and what they should do to be saved ; and 
although something of this concern then spread itself over the land and 
in some places was very remarkable, we believe it was in none more so than 
in this place. The face of things was now changed; and engagedness to 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 57 

hear the word preached, christian conferences, private meetings for religious 
worship and assistance to each other in the waj of life were what the minds 
of many appeared to be deeply concerned in, and engrossed much of our 
time. And we have undoubted grounds to conclude that at this time the 
free grace of God was richly displayed in the saving conversion of many 
among us." 

With the progress of this religious work, which so deeply 
stirred the people of New England, there was soon developed 
among the chtirches and ministers everywhere a widening di- 
vergence of views with respect to the doctrinal preaching of 
the professional evangelists, the reality of certain inward ex- 
periences of which they made great accotint, the measures and 
methods they employed and the propriety of the degree of 
independence of church and ministerial authority maintained 
by them and their adherents. 

The author of the work entitled The Great Aivakening, 
published in 1842, remarks: 

"The whole land, between 1742 and 1745 was full of angry controversy. 
Pastors were divided against pastors, churches against churches, and the 
members of the same church against each other, and against their pastor. 
The established rules of ecclesiastical order were set at defiance and openly 
trampled upon in the name of God. Ignorant and headstrong men were 
roaming at large, pretending to be under the immediate guidance of the 
Holy Ghost and slandering the best men in the land, and multitudes be- 
lieved them. Religious meetings were often attended with disorder, from 
which the most reckless ' new measure ' men of the nineteenth century 
would shrink back in absolute dismay. It is no wonder that good, judicious, 
sober men were alarmed, that they thought the conversion of some hun- 
dreds or thousands had been purchased at too dear a rate: and that thev 
pronounced the revival a source of more evil than good." 

So much this author concedes. And it was certainly the 
fact that early in 1743 there had come to be a division of the 
churches and ministers of our order into two great parties, 
which might be termed the right and left centre of the eccle- 
siatical host, the right centre believing in and zealously pro- 
moting the revival, acknowledging the existence of errors and 
disorders accompanying it, but condemning and contending 



58 Congregational Chnrch and Parish, Essex. 

against them and discerning abounding good which infinitely- 
outweighed the attendant evils, — their extreme right wing, 
however, consisting of fanatics, rash and erratic Separatists^ 
and disorganizers ; the left centre (including some most 
excellent and pious clergymen), recognizing the reality of the 
revival and some good in it, but cautious or fearful about en- 
dorsing it as a whole, chiefly impressed by the errors, the 
disorders, the irrational excitements and the fanaticism accom- 
panying or following it, — their extreme left wing composed 
of formalists, ultra-conservatives, those who were extremely 
high-church as regarded ecclesiastical authority, and ration- 
alists. 

While Mr. Pickering, who was distinguished for the mod- 
eration and coolness of his temper and the steadiness of his 
conduct, must perhaps be located in the left centre, he was 
certainly very near the dividing line. His piety and the 
evangelical character of his preaching were strongly endorsed 
by a large council in 1746, of which the Rev. Messrs. White 
of Gloucester and Wigglesworth of Hamilton were members, 
both of whom signed the famous Boston Testimony of minis- 
ters, in 1743, in favor of the revival. Mr. Pickering's own 
language also furnishes evidence of the correctness of his 
views on certain important points. In one of his letters pub- 
lished in 1742, he says: 

•'I don't ask you whether the conversion of a sinner be the work of God ; 
this is undoubted. Or, whether the work of conversion be the same in the 
nature of it in every age ; this is indisputable. Or, whether conviction 
precedes or accompanies conversion, and both may be called the work of 
God, that is, of his grace; this is admitted. Or, whether the work of 
conviction and conversion be now carried on in the land ; this is conceded." 

That Mr. Pickering not only discerned the spiritual reality 
of the revival, but also felt a genuine interest in it, he himself 
maintained in his letters, and there is no reason to doubt his 
sincerity. In another of these letters in 1742 he says: 

"That numbers have been lately awakened to a careful inquiry into their 
spiritual state, and many convinced of their sin and danger and stirred up 



Tzvo Hundredth Anniversary. 59 

to duty, in a deep concern for their eternal salvation is what I am so far 
from disbelieving, that I am free to acknowledge it to the glory of God; 
and the rather because I doubt not but Divine Providence will shortly 
make it manifest, that what good has been done by some unprecedented 
measures is especially owing to the preventing mercy of God, in counter- 
working the devil in his subtle devices to undermine the churches of 
Christ." 

Yet the errors and disorders which followed in the wake of 
the revival seemed to him so pernicious, that he shrank from 
actively participating in it. 

One of the prevalent notions, apparently taught and culti- . 
vated by the revivalists, he refers to, in a letter of the same 
year, as : 

" The conceit of some that the sudden starts of their fancy are immediate 
impressions from the Holy Spirit; that an impatient and furious desire to 
bear down all before them is a right zeal for the glory of God; and that 
they alone are the true ministers of Jesus Christ. Doubtless there are snares 
on either hand ; and the Rev. Mr. Whitefield's concessions in his answer to 
the Bishop of London are matter of sober reflection, viz., that: ' Luke- 
warmness and zeal are the two rocks against which even well-meaning peo- 
ple are in danger of splitting — the bane of Christianity, and all ought to 
be thankful to that pilot who will teach them to steer a safe and middle 
course.'" "But," Mr. Pickering adds, "What if the pilot should mistake 
the vane for the compass?" 

To Mr. Whitefield he wrote in 1745 : 

"I suppose you can't be ignorant of the schisms, variance, emulations, 
strife, railings and evil surmisings, things very difterent from the fruits 
of the Spirit, that have been rife among us more than four years ago. It 
is my real sentiment according to the best judgment I can form that you 
are, at least, some unhappy occasion of our troubles." 

In his own study of the measures of the revivalists, Mr. 
Pickering had observed some things, which he thought not 
scriptural and indicative of an effort to secure apparent results 
by an artificial excitement of natural feeling. 

In a letter to Rev. Mr. Rogers of Ipswich, of Feb. 15, 1742, 
he writes: "You believe the Holy Spirit has of late remark- 
ably descended upon many places. Would to God it might 



6o Congregational ClinrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

be according to your belief. But I am somewhat afraid that 
you have too great a dependence upon the remarkable effects 
or occurrences so often seen in your night meetings, at two of 
which I was present, on the 7th and 8th of January last." 

Another thing that troubled Mr. Pickering was the disposi- 
tion of tl\e revivalists to cut loose from the teachings and 
guidance of the educated ministry, to w^eaken their authority 
and influence and to break down the regularly constituted 
organizations and arrangements for the maintenance of re- 
ligion. 

His exhortation in still another letter is: 

"I desire you to be careful not to lead men into such a notion of the com- 
munity of ministers, as may tempt them to slight the authority and ad- 
ministrations of their own pastors; but when you see people running mad 
after Paul and ApoUos, and Cephas, rather say: Are ye not carnal.' More- 
over let not the deceiver beguile you into a belief of the necessity of de- 
stroying the form of religion because many professors may seem to deny 
the power. And I beseech you be cautious that while you endeavor refor- 
mation, your measures may not be subversive of our religious interests 
which were so dear to our forefathers. And therefore, I wish you to be of 
no council or aid to any party that may plot against our ministry, churches 
and colleges. What will not some men do? I pray God their machinations 
may be short-lived, and removed as a shepard's tent." 

On the day when it was expected that a minister would be 
ordained over the Separatist Society, he writes : 

"I went and stood before the chief house of entertainment where were many 
people and desiring them to attend, made a declaration in the following 
words. ***** 'Therefore I solemnly testify that such a procedure' 
(as this attempted ordination) 'is encouraging of unwarrantable separations, 
a disparaging of Ecclesiastical councils, a breach upon the fellowship of 
the churches, destructive of their peace and order, and highly injurious to 
the second church in Ipswich.' I then drew off and went to the Meeting- 
house where were many people without as well as within, and asking in 
those that were abroad I performed divine service; and at the close of the 
lecture I acquainted the assembly with the contents of the foregoing de- 
claration, dismissed the people and went home." 

Mr. Pickering was also sorely tried during these years 
(1742-45) by the efforts of certain ministers and exhorters 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 6i 

to preach in his parish without his invitation or consent, and 
by the uncharitable way in which they aUuded to him in 
their prayers and their preaching. Against this treatment he 
remonstrates in his letters to the Messrs. Rogers and to Mr. 
Davenport (who was then at Ipswich) and in one of a little 
later date to Mr. Whitefield, in a frank and decided manner, 
yet with dignity and christian courtesy. 
July 1 6, he writes : 

"Instead of giving me better light and satisfaction bj any replj to my 
inquiry (that jou would dissolve mj doubts as to certain views jou hold) 
you and your brother without advising with me, or first obtaining my con- 
sent, came last March into my parish and held several meetings in the 
house for public worship; and have moreover been pleased to pray for me 
in your assemblies, that God would open my eyes and that the scales might 
fall from them; yea one of you thought fit, publicly, in the hearing of my 
people, to call me their blind minister." 

This attitude of Mr. Pickering towards the revival move- 
ment and the measures adopted to promote it and the char- 
acter of his preaching occasioned, on the part of those among 
his people who were in the fullest sympathy with the work, a 
growing dissatisfaction with him throughout the year 1743 ; 
which led them finally to present to him, March 12, 1744, a 
statement in writing of certain grievances or "occasions of 
disquietude" (as they styled them) signed by twenty-six of 
the sixty-three members of his church, with the intimation 
that they should withdraw from his preaching, unless the 
causes of this disquietude were removed. 

These grievances in reality charged him with not preaching 
plainly the distinctive doctrines of the Bible, with a want of 
interest in his ministerial work, with worldliness of spirit and 
conduct and with opposition to the work of grace going on 
among them. 

Mr. Pickering's indignation at these charges, as well as his 
determination to prevent as far as possible any departure from 
the established usages of the church, carried him to an ex- 
treme in the exercise of his authority as church moderator 



62 . Coiif^n\£^afio}ial Church and Parish, Essex. 

towards the disaffected brethren and in his personal treat- 
ment of them, which only served to widen the breach between 
him and them, and to confirm them in their purpose of se- 
cession from the church. 

On the. 13th of January, 1746, at the house of Daniel 
Giddinge, sixteen members of the church resolved to form a 
society, that they might have the gospel of Christ preached 
to them; on the 15th they went up to the meeting-house 
where there was then a church meeting, and "declared to Mr. 
Pickering and the church publicly that they had separated 
themselves from them;" and on the 20th they completed the 
formation of a "Separate Society," thirty-eight men entering 
into "a solemn covenant and league to set up the worship of 
God agreeably to his word revealed in the Scriptures." Of 
this body Capt. Robert Choate was moderator and William 
Giddinge clerk. 

Notwithstanding this decisive action the church called a 
council of nine churches, May 20, to consider the whole mat- 
ter; of which Rev. John White, of the First church, Glouc- 
ester, a son-in-law of Rev. Mr. Wise, and warmly interested 
in the revival, was the moderator. 

Although the disaffected brethren declined the proposal of 
this council to join in calling a mutual council, they yet, at 
its invitation, presented all their articles of complaint and 
the evidence to sustain them, to the members of the council 
as private christians. 

With all the facts thus before them the majority of the 
council in their result, June loth, after a thorough investiga- 
tion, judged that there was no ground for the charge of a 
want of interest on the part of Mr. Pickering in his ministe- 
rial work, or of a neglect of pastoral visits ; that there was 
no reason for doubting his piety, for believing that he had 
been worldly in spirit, or had conducted improperly in busi- 
ness affairs ; and they endorsed fully the evangelical character 
of his preaching. On the other hand they were of the opin- 



Tzvo Hundredth Anniversary. 63 

ion that he had been negligent about examining candidates 
for admission to the church respecting their religious experi- 
ences, that he had failed to examine early and thoroughly 
into the nature of the religious experiences among his flock, 
as he ought to have done ; and that his treatment of the 
aggrieved at first had given them just ground of offence, but 
that he had offered them such satisfaction that they ought to 
forgive him. The council, therefore, regarded the withdrawal 
as unjustifiable and reproachful to religion, and the action of 
the disaffected, in setting up a separate assembly for worship, 
as contrary to the known order of the churches. 

A minority of six — including three ministers — dissented, 
considering that the disaffected persons had real grounds of 
grievance with their pastor, which still remained, and that the 
withdrawal was not reproachful to religion nor deserving of 
the censure of the church. Yet even they did not justify the 
withdrawal in all the circumstances of it, and they exhorted 
both parties to put away what had been "unchristian-like" in 
spirit and behavior, and carefully endeavor a reunion. 

Whether this protracted struggle, involving the alienation 
of friends and causing continual anxiety, disappointment 
and depression to Mr. Pickering on account of this dismem- 
bering of the church and parish, unfavorably affected his 
health or not, we do not know ; but in a little more than a 
year, after a very short sickness he died of a fever, Oct. 7, 
1747 — closing his ministry of twenty-two years at the early 
age of forty-seven ; and his remains lie in the old grave yard. 

In the Boston Gazette or Weekly Journal of Tuesday, Nov. 
K), 1747, appeared the following notice: 

"Chebacco in Ipswich, Oct. ii, 1747. On Monday last died here of a 
fever and this day was interred the Rev. Theophilus Picltering, in the 
fortj-seventh year of his age; and after he had been Pastor of the Second 
Church in Ipswich 22 years. He had been as generally esteemed and loved 
by his people, perhaps, as most of his Order, until some of the last years 
of his life: when unhappy Alienations on Account of his Doctrine and 
Conduct, discovered themselves in many of his Flock, who brought Accu- 



64 Congrcf^ational Church and Parish, Essex. 

sation against him relating hereto before the Church and at length before 
a Council of the neighboring Churches Convened for that Purpose, who 
judged the Alienation and Disaffection to be without Sufficient Ground. 
Under the pressure of so great Trouble, as he was Exercised with, he was 
Observed to bear up with Uncommon Evenness and Patience of Mind, and 
dj'd at last in a desirable Tranquility of Soul as to Spirtual Concerns; 
Preaching the Doctrines of Grace by a free Profession that he was a sinful 
Creature, who had nothing of his own to recommend him to God; that 
his alone Expectation was from the imputed Righteousness of the Re- 
deemer, and that he had a Comfortable Hope of Acceptance through that 
Righteousness." 

The church nothing" daunted by his loss, loyal to his mem- 
ory and still maintaining the justice of their cause, prepared 
and adopted Dec. 31, 1747, and published early the next 
year: "A Letter from Second church in Ipswich to their 
separated brethren in defence of their deceased pastor and 
themselves, against the injurious charges of the said separated 
brethren in a late print of theirs, by giving a more just and 
true account of tHe things that preceded the separation." 

Instead also of entertaining a proposal made by the seced- 
ers, Jan. 14, 1748, for a conference to consider the possibility 
of a union of the two bodies, they immediately declined it, 
and called a council of six churches from Boston, Cambridge 
Reading and Salem to pass judgment on the procedure of 
the withdrawing members ; which body after two sessions on 
the 19th and 30th of July, 1748, gave decision that the new 
Separate organization was not a Congregational church, and 
exhorted the brethren composing it to be reconciled to the 
church they had left. 

On the 3d of January, 1749, Mr. Nehemiah Porter, a native 
of Hamilton and a graduate of Harvard College in 1745, 
who had already supplied the pulpit for some time, was or- 
dained the third pastor of the old church. Of his ministry 
here of seventeen years very little is known. Near its close 
a disagreement arose between him and some of his church ; 
and the mutual council, called to consider the matter, advised 
him to "take blame to himself and to give the aggrieved 



Tivo Hundred fh Anniversary. 65 

brethren such satisfaction as they had a right to demand." 
This he refused to do, and, as a majority of the church sus- 
tained him, the disaffected, considering that there had been a 
breach of the covenant on the part of said majority in so 
doing, withdrew and were received into communion with 
the new church. 

A difficulty afterwards respecting his salary occasioned 
other councils and finally the dissolving of the relation be- 
tween him and his church and parish, by a decision of referees, 
in June 1766. 

Mr. Porter removed to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, where there 
was a Chebacco colony ; and, after founding a Congregational 
church there and preaching to it several years, returned to 
his n-ative state and was the pastor of a church in Ashfield, 
Franklin Co., from Dec. 21, 1774 until his death Feb. 29, 1820, 
when he lacked but a month of a hundred years in age. His 
active service in the ministry did not end until he was in his 
eio-hty-eight year, and he continued to preach occasionally 
for a long time afterward, sometimes exhorting and praying 
in public up to the last year of his life. 

The testimony of one of his contemporaries was, that "as 
a preacher he sustained a very respectable character; if not 
a star of the first magnitude, yet shining with a clearness and 
deo-ree of lustre, which rendered him an ornament to the 
church. The doctrines he firmly believed were such as are 
emphatically called the doctrines of grace ; and these he in- 
culcated in all his sermons, which were instructive, impressive 
and delivered with force and fervor." His ministerial labors 
were attended with success in large additions to his church. 
One or two anecdotes told of him may help to illustrate his 
character. He was a chaplain in the American army, at the 
surrender of Burgoyne, and used to say with a great deal of 
animation, " I conquered him. The decisive blow was struck, 
and the battle decided while I was holding a season of special 
prayer, in a retired place, with a few pious soldiers." Mr. 



66 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

Porter had great firmness and decision of character. Once, 
when preaching on poHtics, a gentleman of the opposite 
party arose in his pew and said, "Mr. Porter, you had better 
let that subject alone." Upon which, with a stamp of the 
foot and great energy, he exclaimed, "Silence!" and pro- 
ceeded with his discourse. 

On his grave stone, near the Congregational church in 
Ashfield, is the following epitaph: "Mr. Porter was a faithful 
minister of Christ: with long life he was satisfied: he fell 
asleep in Jesus in hope of a joyful resurrection and a blessed 
immortality. 'The righteous shall be in everlasting remem- 
brance.'" 

THE NEW CHURCH AND ITS FOUNDERS. 

Turning now from the fortunes of the old church, to the 
branch, which had been sundered from it, had taken root so 
vigorously and become so thrifty, we find that the seceders 
— nine men and thirty-two women — were, by a council of two 
Separatist churches, from Boston and Plainfield, Conn., justi- 
fied in the course they had taken, aided in preparing articles 
of faith and discipline and a covenant and organized as the 
fourth church in Ipswich, (that at Hamilton being the third), 
on the twenty-second of May 1746; and that on the seven- 
teenth of December, this church elected P>ancis Choate and 
Daniel Giddinge, ruling Elders, and Eleazar Craft and Solo- 
mon Giddinge, deacons.* 

Its members and all who worshipped with them were, by 
law, obliged to pay a property tax to the old parish, (as that 
was a territorial organization), and therefore to carry a double 
financial burden ; until, after six years of opposition to their 

*The ruling Elders were officers provided for in the "Cambridge Plat- 
form," who, (with the pastor) should constitute a sort of ••session," to do 
the business of the church and to carry out its direction. '•This office 
never had the unanimous sanction of the churches and had become nearly 
obsolete before 16S3." ^^ was now, however, first established in this church 
Init dropped out of use in less than fifty years. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 67 

application to the General Court, the petitioners, fifty-seven 
in number, obtained an act of incorporation, Dec, 8, 1752, 
and with their families and estates were made a distinct and 
separate precinct; and their house of worship — the third 
in Chebacco — was erected the same year. 

Remembering that this also was entirely a laymen's m.ove- 
ment to secure a more evangelical faith, a more vigorous 
spiritual life in the church and greater freedom in religious 
matters, whom do we find to be the leaders and energetic 
workers in it? 

Of the new parish Joseph Perkins was one of the founders 
and prominent members, its clerk from the beginning for over 
twenty years and its treasurer for nearly the same length of 
time. For a long period he kept a tavern nearly opposite 
the church and died April 4, 1805, at the age of eighty-five. 
Among others who were the moving spirits in this Separa- 
tist Religious Society, the office-bearers in the new church, 
not only by virtue of their position, but because they were 
actually foremost in its history for many years, its chief direc- 
tors and upholders, are brought conspicuously before us, at 
the opening of its career. 

One of them was Elder Francis Choate, a son of "Governor" 
Thomas Choate whose abilities and force of character had 
made him a leader in the affairs of the community and effi- 
cient in his devotion to the, interests of the church in Mr. 
Wise's day and later and who lived to witness the scenes of 
the great revival, dying in 1745, at the age of seventy-four. 
Francis, born Sept. 13, 1701, was bred under Mr. Wise's 
preaching was a young man of twenty-four when Mr. Picker- 
ing began his ministry, was converted in the revival of 1727, 
and from that time onward was known as a man of firm 
principle, familiar with religious doctrines and of uncommon 
depth and fervor of piety. He was most heartily in sympathy 
with the wide spread and intense religious interest which 
Whiteficld's preaching awakened and of which he gives an 



68 Congregational CluircJi and Parish, Essex. 

account in his journal. In the secession from the old church 
he was one of the chief actors and unsparingly devoted all 
his intellectual strength and energy to the promotion of the 
welfare and growth of the new one. The council which con- 
stituted that church met at his house, (now Mr. Lamont 
Burnham's, occupied by Mr. Frank Andrews) ; he was its first 
moderator; and on his grounds took place the ordination of 
its first minister, whose right-hand man and warm personal 
friend he was ever after. 

For thirty years a Justice of the Peace and almost con- 
stantly employed in law business and in civil affairs as a town 
officer, acute and skilful in debate, Esq. Choate became the 
strong staff of the young church whose cause he espoused 
in the maturity of his manhood and retained the fervor of 
his attachment to it to the end of his life. 

Another of these "New Lights" of Chebacco was Dea. 
Eleazer Craft, a son of Benjamin and Abigail (Harris) Craft, 
born in Roxbury, May 5, 171 1. Through the influence of 
his brother Benjamin, who was also one of the Separatists, 
and was a Louisbourg soldier, Eleazar came to Chebacco, and 
married Aug. 25, 1738, Martha Low, who died Sept. 28, 1797, 
aa"ed eighty-three. Dea. Craft was a farmer and lived not 
far from the corner of the old and new roads to Manchester. 
In the preparation, Sept. 15, 1747, of the "Plain Narrative 
of the proceedings, which caused a separation of a number 
of aggrieved brethren from the second church in Ipswich," he 
took an active part. Elected deacon at the formation of the 
church, he was, from Nov. 20, 1765, until his death, May 28, 
1790, at the age of seventy-eight, a Ruling Elder and was 
the last one who held that office. A faithful church officer 
for forty-four years, he was very highly esteemed for his ar- 
dent piety and uniform christian deportment. 

Still a fourth leader of the Separatists was Ensign James 
Eveleth, whose father Joseph moved to Chebacco in 1674 
and was remarkable for his piety as well as for the great 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 69 

age to which he attahied. His is the first name on the record 
of those who joined the Chebacco church after its organization 
in 1683. In a deed distributing some of his property by gift 
among members of his family, in 1719, the year after the 
building of the second meeting-house, he directs his children 
"to pay to ye church of Christ in Chebacco forty shillings, 
to be laid out and improved towards ye buying a piece of plate 
for ye use of said church." 

A great granddaughter, (who was fifteen years old at his 
death), used to describe in her old age the visit made to him 
by Rev. Mr. Whitefield in 1740, her mind always retaining, 
as she said, a "vivid impression of the solemnity of the scene 
presented when Whitefield knelt upon the floor and received, 
from the lips that could relate a christian experience of nearly 
a hundred years, a truly patriarchal blessing." Living to 
witness the scenes of the great awakening, he died Dec. i, 
1745, at the age of one hundred and five years. 

His oldest son, John, was the first Chebacco boy to receive 
a liberal education. A graduate of Harvard in 1689, h^ 
preached at Enfield and at Manchester for a short time, at 
Stowe, seventeen years, then at Kennebunkport and Bidde- 
ford Me., until 1729, and died at Kittery, Me., Aug. i, 1734. 

James, the youngest son of Joseph, received from his 
father in 171 5 a deed of lands in Chebacco, the consideration 
being "that naturall law and parentall affection which I have 
and do bare unto my loveing son James Eveleth, of said 
Chebacco in Ipswich, as also for his dutifull carriage towards 
me, and his faithfull serving of me." 

This son, Ensign James, was not only one of the twenty- 
six, who in 1744 presented to Mr. Pickering their "causes of 
disquietude," but was also one of the four who had come so 
directly into antagonism with the minister, as to feel obliged 
to send him, April 29, their statement of "additional griev- 
ances." He was also one of the nineteen who signed the 
''Plain Narrative" and was appointed one of a committee of 



yo Congregational ChmrJi and ParisJi, Essex. 

two, to tender an invitation, Jan. 27, 1746, to Rev. John 
Cleaveland, then of Boston, to visit Chebacco and preach 
there. Mr. Eveleth was a farmer and hved at the Falls, where 
Mr. Luther Burnham's house now stands. Through his only 
son, James, descended Aaron Eveleth, a soldier in the Revo- 
lution, among whose children was the late Capt. Jonathan 
Eveleth. 

That Elder Daniel Giddinge (a town-representative in 
1758, who died Oct. 25, 1771, aged sixty-seven), was an effi- 
cient co-worker with Messrs. Perkins, Choate, Craft and 
Eveleth, there is good reason to believe. The first meeting 
to form the Separate Society was held at his house. And his 
vigilance and promptness to act for its interests, as well his 
ability to wield the pen with some pertinence and force, come 
out clearly in a brief document printed by him in Boston, 
F"eb. 12, 1748, the opening of which explains the occasion 
and intent of it and is as follows : 

"Whereas, the subscriber, one of the brethren that left the Rev. Mr. 
Pickering's church, being in Boston and perceiving that the 'Answer to 
the aggrieved brethren's Plain Narrative' is dispersed among the members 
of the General Assembly now sitting, containing among a number of 
groundless insinuations, a few things objected to some of the facts in said 
Narrative, tending to discredit the same and bring an odium on the nar- 
rators, dispersed as I suppose to prejudice the said Honorable Court against 
us at this time : To prevent this, I will say, as what I am ready to verify 
and make good, as follows :" 

Then he proceeds to give what he calls a "brief statement 
in eight particulars ;" which is clear, concise and to the point. 

Further light is thrown upon the intellectual and religious 
character of these office-bearers and their associates, by two 
things which accompanied the organization of this new church 
and the settlement of its first minister. 

The first was the preparation and adoption of an elaborate 
code of eighteen articles of faith and discipline.* How much 



* See Appendix C. 



Tzvo Hundredth Annivcrsajy. 71 

their past ecclesiastical experiences had to do with suggesting 
the necessity of these articles and with putting them into the 
shape they assumed, may be inferred from the iQ\w paragraphs 
I will read from them. 

" 1st. That -we will have such officers as Christ Jesus has appointed and 
ordained in his holy Word, viz : a Pastor or Pastors, Ruling Elders and 
Deacons. 

2d. That no person shall be admitted to either of said offices, unless 
he has Scripture qualifications evidently appearing to the satisfaction of 
the church. 

3d. That the Church shall have the sole power of electing and appoint- 
ing all the officers of the Church. 

5th. That no person shall be admitted as a member of our Church, but 
such as shall give a particular account of a saving work of the Spirit of 
God upon his or her soul, to the satisfaction of the Church. 

7th. That we will not admit of any person to minister to us in hoi j things, 
who shall refuse to submit to an examination of the state of his soul by 
such a number of the brethren as the Church from time to time shall think 
fit to appoint; and shall give to them a satisfactory account of a work of 
grace wro't upon his soul.; who shall also sign these articles before he shall 
be ordained to the Pastoral care of this Church. 

13th. That neither Pastor nor Elders shall invite any person to preach, 
until thev are satisfied that he has a work of grace wro't on his soul. 

14th. We believe that all the gifts and graces that are bestowed on any 
of the members are to be improved for the good of the whole ; in order to 
which there ought to be such a gospel freedom, whereby the Church may 
know where everv particular gift is, that it may be improved in its proper 
place, and to its right end, for the glorv of God, and for the good of the 
Church. 

15th. The confession of faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines 
at Westminster we fully agree to in every respect, as to the substance of 
the same. 

i6th. We would always have recourse to the Platform agreed upon by 
the Synod at Cambridge in New England, A.D. 164S; and for the further 
explanation of our own sentiments respecting church discipline, etc., we 
will always be willing to be guided thereby with the following exceptions 
and emendations : — 

Chap. 10, Section 6. Respecting the Direction of a Council being nec- 
essary in order for a Church to remove their Pastor we do except against. 
Sec. 8. We judge the Elders ought to call the Church together when de- 
sired by any one member; and whenever the Church is mett, the brethren 
have a right, one by one, (asking leave) to declare their mind without in- 
terruption or hindrance, and that the Elders have no power to adjourn or 
dissolve meetings without a vote of the Church. 



72 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

Chap. 13, Sec.Ar- Respecting magistrates having a power to force people 
to contribute for the support of the gospel, we except against, being not 
intrusted with the support of the same ; that the Church have power to 
deal with all such as will not, if able, contribute to the support of the gospel, 
we hold, and also that by the Holy Scriptures Gifts may be received, but 
not forced fi-om any without. 

Chap. 17, Sec. 9. Respecting the magistrates having a coercial power, or 
right to punish a church that rends itself off from the churches, being by 
them judged incorrigible and schismatick, we except against. 

iSth. Lastly, That if notwithstanding our great care in the admition of 
a Pastor or Pastors, or other officers, any or either of them should dcn\' or 
walk contrary to these Doctrines, and persist therein, then in such a case 
said person or persons shall no longer have any power or authority in the 
Church, but shall be, and hereby are, debarred therefrom, imtil manifest 
tokens of their Humiliation and Repentance." 

If these articles are not Calvinistic, Low-church, Indepen- 
dent, Democratic, then to what could you apply these epi- 
thets ? There is certainly no room in them for clerical authority, 
or a dead formalism to lurk ; nor could one charge this church 
with any lack of self-control. These sentences recall and 
illustrate Mr. Wise's declaration that "democracy is Christ's 
government in church and state." 

The other thing particularly noticeable is the cool, business- 
like way in which these laymen proceeded to execute the 
provisions of these articles in their selection of a minister 
and to sit in judgment on the theological and spiritual quali- 
fications of a candidate for the pastoral office before giving 
him a call to settle with them. Their record reads as follows : 

'•Dec. 17. 1746. At a meeting of the newly-gathered Congregational 
Church of Christ in Chebacco. upon adjournment, it was voted : That 
John Cleaveland be desired to declare his principles, which he did as 
follows :" 

Then is given what is entitled "The Principles and Fun- 
damentals of Mr. John Cleaveland's Faith," in twenty articles, 
an elaborate and minute creed, essentially that of the West- 
minster Assembly of Divines, but wrought into shape by his 
own thought and expressed, fn the main, in his own language, 
and closing with these words : 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 73 

" These articles I profess to believe, not only speculatively and scientifi- 
cally, but also heartily and practically through rich grace and boundless 
and matchless love in the dear Redeemer." "John Cleaveland."* 

The Record continues : 

"These foregoing principles had a good and unanimous acceptance by 
the Church. And it was unanimously voted : That Mr. John Cleaveland 
should be pastor of this church; That our choice of Mr. John Cleaveland 
for pastor be laid before the society for their concurrence ; That a commit- 
tee be chosen to give the said Mr. Cleaveland a call to the pastoral office." 

Where could you find a company of men more competent 
to manage their ecclesiastical affairs than that one? Surely 
there was no need in Chebacco, an hundred and thirty-seven 
years ago, of a Presbytery or a Bishop to tell these intelligent, 
reflecting Bible-students, spiritually enlightened, what to 
believe, or who was a suitable religious teacher and guide for 
them. These godly, liberty-loving but self-controlled, Prot- 
estant, Americanized Englishmen of the fourth generation, 
had not let go their English Bible as the Inspired Word, nor 
sold their God-given birthright for any mess of pottage, 
whether prelatical or presbyterial on the one hand, or ration- 
alistic or "theistic" on the other. 

In these Christian laymen is brilliantly displayed the 
sturdy Puritan character of the seventeenth century ennobled 
by the "Great Awakening" of the eighteenth century. 

REV. JOHN CLEAVELAND. 

But who was this John Cleaveland and what were his ante- 
cedents that he should so exactly suit this new Chebacco 
Church? His great grandfather, Moses Cleaveland was afirst 
settler in this country, from that same old Ipswich, England, 
from which had come some of the founders of our Ipswich. 
His grandfather, Josiah Cleaveland, removed from Chelms- 
ford, Mass., to the fertile meadows of the Quinebaug in Can- 

* See Appendix D. 
10 



74 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

terbury, the central southern town of Windham County, in 
the northeast corner of Connecticut, in 1693, being one of its 
original settlers. His father Josiah Cleavelandwas one of the 
most influential men in his day in all town matters there. 
Throughout his life a pillar in the Congregational church, 
he left it, at his death, in 1751, his part of the ownership of 
the meeting-house and iJ^200 in money. 

Very early in the history of the Great Awakening, a deep 
religious thoughtfulness spread through Canterbury. "Many 
leading members of the church and among them Josiah 
Cleaveland were aroused to new interest, and became active 
in promoting the work." Among the children and youth, 
hopefully converted, was his son John, the seventh of eleven 
children, born April 11, 1722, who united with the church 
in 1740. 

From a fragment of an autobiography and diary, we learn 
that John's early life was spent upon the farm, with the three 
winter months at school, and amid the influences of a christian 
home. An injury caused by an ambitious attempt to outstrip 
others in stone-wall building disabled him for severe physical 
labor and, beginning preparation for College in September, 
1739, he entered Yale in 1741, in a class which graduated 
twenty-seven members. 

Of his College course he writes : 

"I took special delight in the study of the Greek Testament, Logic, Nat- 
ural Philosophy and History. But in the midst of all these studies I found 
the Gospel to be that which my soul was then most captivated with, not 
merely the doctrinal part, which however was divinely sweet, but the practi- 
cal and vital part, it being the time of my first love, when the candle of 
the Lord shined with divine lustre and efficacious splendor on my soul." 

During the first winter in College he hears "heavenly news 
from Canterbury ;" his brother Ebenezer and his sisters are 
converted ; his father's house has become a little Bethel. His 
journal in the spring vacation gives a glimpse of the progress 
of the revival in his native place and indicates great religious 
interest and activity there. 



T%vo Hundredth Anniversary. 75 

Just at that time, however, (May, 1742) the government 
of Connecticut, acting on the opinion of the General Con- 
sociation of churches that "the growing extravagances and 
excesses accompanying the religious excitement throughout 
the state were to be attributed to the intrusion of unauthorized 
itinerants and the holding of free religious conferences," 
passed an act to correct and prevent these evils by forbidding 
the preaching of evangelists and exhorters and the speaking 
in meeting by laymen, without' permission from constituted 
authority. This extraordinary law, of course, excited great 
opposition and only aggravated the disorders it was intended 
to cure, and not more in other places than in Canterbury 
where in 1744 the religious disturbances had greatly increased. 
The parish (and a minority of the church) had determined 
to settle a minister to whom a large majority of the church — 
earnest supporters of the revival movement — were opposed. 
The latter had therefore withdrawn from the meeting-house, 
and were holding religious services in private houses, con- 
ducted by laymen. John Cleaveland and his brother Ebene- 
zer, in the summer vacation of that year, being members of 
the church, of course attended with them. 

The church and state authorities took the ground that every 
church in the state was subject to the "Saybrook Platform," 
except by formal dissent at the time of its organization, and 
that no subsequent vote by any number of its members could 
change its status ; that the minority at Canterbury were there- 
fore the church ; and that the majority by declaring themselves 
Congregational according to the Cambridge platform, (as they 
had done in 1743, after carefully investigating the origin and 
history of their church, through a committee), had forfeited 
their ecclesiastical standing and legal privileges and were a 
body of "Separatists" whose meetings were unlawful. 

On the return of the Cleavelands to College, in November, 
they were summoned before President Clap, on the charge of 
violating a law of the College which also forbade attendance 



^6 Congregational Clinrch and Parish, Essex. 

on "Separate" meetings. They argued their case with force; 
but although they pleaded for delay, a bill was immediately 
issued against them, suspending them from all the rights and 
privileges of the College, for violating the law of God, the 
Colony and the College, until satisfaction should be made in 
the form of a public confession to this effect. This they 
could not, in conscience, do. They sent to the Faculty a 
very respectful and humble petition to be restored to college 
standing, but instead of accepting it, the government of the 
College administered a formal admonition, Nov. 19.* Their 
collision with the authorities was very widely published and 
excited great sympathy. Their mother and other friends sent 
them letters, entreating them to be true to their own convictions, 
and not to deny their church and wrong God and their own 
consciences b)^ making a false confession. As they did thus 
hold fast to the position they had taken. President Clap sum- 
moned them to the Hall, sometime in the month of December 
and announced the formal sentence of expulsion. 

The next May the brothers sent in a memorial to the Leg- 
islature of the state, praying for a redress of their grievances 
and to be immediately restored to their standing in College. 

"In a well written document thej recite the reasons for their father's 
separating, with a majority of the church members, from the religious 
society in Canterbury; and complain that they have been punished for that 
which was not against College law. They say near the close of their peti- 
tion, and with reason, as people now think: ' May it please your Honors, 
as we understand the laws of this colony, the Congregational persuation 
is as much under the countenance of the laws of this colony as the Say- 
brook Platformists are; and therefore we think it hard measure indeed to 
be cut oft" from our College privileges, merely for being of the Congrega- 
tional persuation, and acting agreeable thereto, while the Saybrook Plat- 
formists, professors of the Church of England, Seven-day and other 
Baptists and Qiiakers have and have had free liberty to enjoy all the privi- 
leges of College, their principles and practices in the vacancies of College 
agreeable thereto notwithstanding.'"! 

*See Appendix E. 

fPres. Woolsey's Historical Address. 



Tzvo HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. yy 

Their petition, however, was dismissed without action of 
either house. 

At a later day, as Mr. Cleaveland himself writes : "Through 
the application to the College Corporation of a number of min- 
isters in the neighborhood of Chebacco, accompanied with 
reflections made by me to the Reverend President, which were 
'satisfactory', a diploma of A.M., and my standing in my class, 
(that of 1745), were granted me in 1763. The honorary 
degree of A.M. was also conferred upon him in 1782 by Dart- 
mouth College. 

For several months of the year 1745 Mr. Cleaveland studied 
theology with Rev. Philemon Robbins of Branford, Conn., an 
able and popular preacher and a warm advocate of the revival 
measures. In August he began preaching in some of the "new 
light" churches of Windham county, and was desired by the 
one in his native town to become its minister. The next 
month he was invited to a "Separate" church in Boston, then 
worshipping in the old Huguenot meeting-house in School 
street ; and he supplied their pulpit about eight or ten months. 
Nov. 1 2th, he wrote to Mr. Robbins, his instructor, that he 
had preached sixty times in and around Boston, and that the 
Lord had been with him in a wonderful manner. 

In response to an invitation of Jan. 27, 1746, from James 
Eveleth and Francis Choate, as he writes in his journal : "Feb. 
17th, I rode to Chebacco and preached in the meeting-house, 
each of the four days following. When I took my leave of 
them, the assembly was watered with tears." 

On the 20th of May he was the moderator of the Council 
which organized the new church in this village and preached 
here again in August. A formal request in the autumn from 
the Boston society to become their pastor he was still holding 
under consideration, when the Chebacco church made their 
overtures to him in December. 

It seems natural to suppose that it was the somewhat simi- 
lar experience of trial and conflict througli which his own 



78 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

church in Canterbury had passed and the additional troubles 
he had suffered in College, for conscience sake, during pre- 
cisely the same years, as well as his intense interest in the revi- 
val moment and the complete harmony of his views with 
those of the new church in Chebacco, that drew him into 
an especially close sympathy with them, when he was balanc- 
ing between the two places and decided him to cast in his 
lot with the people here as their fellow prisoner in the bonds 
of the gospel. 

Having accepted their call Dec. 26, he was ordained Feb. 
25, 1747, in the presence of a large audience, though the ser- 
vice was held in the open air, at an inclement season. 

One of his grandsons (not a clergyman), in a foot-note to 
the printed pages of his journal, has, I grieve to say, viewed 
this matter of his settlement here from altogether another 
stanjlpoint, and suggested an additional if not an entirely dif- 
ferent motive for his decision, as follows : 

"From a social and worldly point of view the Boston invitation must 
have been far more attractive than the Chebacco call. But he had found 
in that plain community of farmers and fishermen, one magnet of superior 
power. I have no doubt that it was the bright and comely Mary Choate 
Dodge, — mentioned later in his journal as his 'dear and loving spouse' — 
who virtually determined the question where he should stay." 

We ought not for an instant to admit this soft impeachment ; 
and yet the very next recorded event in his life was his mar- 
riage, on the fifteenth of July following, to Mary, the only 
daughter of Mr. Parker Dodge of Hamilton. 

From the year 1749, Mr. and Mrs. Cleaveland lived on 
Spring street, in a house whose site is now occupied by that 
of Mrs. David Choate ; and it was in that mansion that they 
entertained the renowned Whitefield as their guest in the 
autumn of 1754. The entry in Mr. Cleaveland's journal is: 

"Oct. 28. Rev. George Whitefield came to our house and preached the 
next morning in our meeting-house.- He then went to Cape Ann, preached 
twice, and came and lodged with us that night. I think it a great honor to 
have his company." 



Tivo HnndrcdtJi Anniversary. 79 

This is not the place to attempt to dehneate the character 
of Mr. Cleaveland or to give a sketch of the ministry of this 
zealous man of God, this eloquent preacher and indefatigable 
worker. But some brief mention of three passages in his 
life may be appropriate, to illustrate the kind and quality 
of his labors and services for this church and parish. 

I. The first of these takes us on to the years 1760-64. The 
country had just passed through the long and exciting French 
war which had absorbed the public mind. Many had re- 
turned from army and camp life, demoralized in their principles 
and habits ; there was a great increase of Sabbath desecration 
and profanity, and even in the churches it was a time of relig- 
ious declension. 

At this aspect of things, on return from a temporary absence, 
Mr. Cleaveland's spirit was stirred within him. With his 
strong faith in the Bible doctrine of prayer, he persuaded his 
church to agree to spend oneday every quarter of the year "ina 
congregational fasting and praying," as he says, "for the out- 
pouringof God's spirit upon all nations agreeable to the concert 
for prayer, first entered into in Scotland, some years since 
(in 1744) ; and also to spend a part of a day once a fortnight 
in a private religious conference. This for near half a year 
was held once a week, for the most part, and divers at those 
meetings were favored with a remarkable spirit of prayer for 
the rising generation". 

From this significant statement we learn the origin of the 
Quarterly Fast,\n which three of the other churches in Ipswich 
began to unite in 1780, and which was maintained here for a 
hundred years and more — the centennial year of its estab- 
lishment being observed by an exceedingly interesting service 
in our meeting-house, Dec. 31, i860. 

This record also discloses the earliest observance, in this 
community, of the Monthly concert of prayer for the conver- 
sion of the world, for which a circular invitation was sent out 
from Scotland in 1746, five hundred copies of which were 



8o Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

sent to New England. How enlightened and comprehensive 
Mr. Cleaveland's views were upon this subject of the respon- 
sibiHty of the church for the spiritual welfare of the whole 
world, and how dear this object was to his heart, appears also 
from the following remarkable letter which he wrote in 1763, 
on the duty of undertaking the christianizing of the American 
Indians : 

" Very Dear Sir : Since I have understood that the preliminarv articles 
of Peace are ratified, bj which the vast country on the eastern side of the 
river Mississippi, from the source of said river to the ocean, is ceded" (i.e. 
by France) " to his Brittanic majesty', I have been ready to think we never 
had so loud a call and so wide a door opened, to use endeavors to propa- 
gate the gospel and spread the savour of the knowledge of Christ among 
the Indian tribes, which inhabit or rather range in the extended wilds of 
North America, as now we have. A view to christianize the Heathen was 
a pious motive with our Forefathers to come into this America at first; 
and what all along has been an obstruction to their conversion God has 
now removed. And as God has now given the English nation all North 
America, it can't be thought that we render again according to the benefit 
done unto us, if we neglect to improve all proper means to communicate 
to the heathen the inestimable treasure of the Gospel, which God has long 
indulged us with and now secured the enjoyment of to us, against those 
that ever have sought to deprive us of the same. Moreover, can it be 
supposed that God has wonderfully crowned the British arms with success 
and given us all this vast country which is now ceded to us, merely for 
Great Britain's and British American Colonies' sake — seeing the promise 
is of the heathen to Christ for an inheritance.^" 

Surely Mr. Cleaveland and his church were fully abreast of 
the times in which they lived. Within three years of the time 
of entering upon the use of these most scriptural means for 
securing a spiritual reformation there followed a religious 
revival, which, engrossed the attention of the whole commu- 
nity and for the intensity of feeling experienced by those 
who were the subjects of it and the number of them — in all 
about an hundred persons, — as well as for the spread of it 
into many other places round about, has never been paralleled, 
in the history of this church. 

Mr. Cleaveland's published account of this, in 1767 — in a 



Tzvo Hundredth Anniversary. 8i 

pamphlet of some thirty-two pages, entitled : "A short and 
plain narrative of the late work of God's spirit in Chebacco 
in Ipswich in the years 1763 and 1764"* — is a story of ex- 
ceeding interest throughout. t 

THE REUNION OF THE TWO CHURCHES AND PARISHES. 

2. Another of Mr. Cleaveland's more important services 
was that which he performed in securing the reunion of the 
two churches here. Coming to Chebacco, as he did, when 
the controversy between the two alienated divisions of the 
original church and parish was at its height and fiercely rag- 
ing, at the invitation of one of the two contending parties, 
he of course identified himself with its cause and became its 
champion. The last of the four pamphlets relative to this 
controversy, entitled : " Chebacco narrative rescued from the 
charge of falsehood and partiality ; by a friend of truth, " was 
believed to have been written by him and gives some idea of 
his bold spirit in that contest and of his style as a writer. :j: 

The fact is therefore all the more noteworthy that he, 
the very man who had thus so hotly assailed the opposite 
camp, succeeded within a generation, in reconciling those 
brethren mutually offended and estranged for so long a time, 
— carrying on the process of uniting the fractured members 
and the healing, unto perfect' soundness, so that apparently no 
trace of ill feeling remained. 

Indeed the members of the old parish must have learned 
through their observation of him as a christian minister, their 
intercourse with him as a fellow townsman, and their knowl- 
edge of his kindness to the soldiers of their families in the 

* See Appendix F. 

t One of the Manchester converts was Edward Lee, a sailor, "who 
cau<'-ht the flame of divine love from the glowing soul of the Chebacco 
minister and attended his preaching the rest of his life." Thirty years 
afterward Mr. Cleaveland preached the funeral sermon of this man at Man- 
chester, in December, 1793; and a brief biographical sketch of him was 
published in 1S49, ^J the American S. S. Union. 

X See Appendix G. 



82 Congregational CJinrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

French War, to respect and appreciate and love him, in order 
to make as they did — though still stronger financially than 
his parish — the first proposal for reunion, within three months 
after the dismission of their last minister, Mr. Porter, in 1766. 
The first VQdi\ step towards this was the arrangement made in 
1768, to worship together, half the year in each meeting- 
house; the seeonei was the' agreement, in 1770, that the old 
parish should pay four-sevenths of Mr. Cleaveland's salary; 
and the eiecisive step was (by proposal of the old cluircli) a 
joint meeting of the two churches at the centre school-house, 
April, 1774, for a conference relative to a union, and the 
unanimous vote by each church, separately, "to bury forever, 
as a church, all former differences between them and the other 
church and to acknowledge the other a sister church in charity 
and fellowship." 

By vote of each church at the same place, the first Monday 
in June, with a concurrence in their action by the two parishes, 
July I, an ecclesiastical council, to assist and advise the two 
churches in uniting in one, was called, which met, Oct. 4th, 
in the new meeting-house. It consisted of the other four 
churches in Ipswich and the church in Byfield, and Rev. Mr. 
Leslie was its moderator. 

To settle a difficulty of longstanding between the new church 
and that in Manchester, (occasioned by the former church's 
receiving to communion, members of the latter under disci- 
pline), there was an adjournment until the 25th. This 
obstacle having been removed, a plan of union, articles of 
faith and a covenant, the preparation of which had been 
assigned to a committee, were reported to the Council, accep- 
ted and recommended to the two churches. The churches, 
also, after deliberation, passed a unanimous vote of accept- 
ance ; and these documents were subscribed in the presence of 
the council by Dea. Seth Story, moderator, and five other 
brethren of the old church, and the pastor and twenty-two 
brethren of the new. 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. <^3 

The Compact was in part, as follows : 

"Heads of Agreement for uniting the Second and Fourth Churches of 
Ipswich into one Congregational Church, come into in the presence of a 
council of Churches." 

"I. We, the Second and Fourth Churches of Ipswich, covenant and 
agree to become one Congregational church, under the name or style of 
the Second Church of Ipswich. 

3. We covenant and agree to receive the word of God contained in the 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be our absolute and only rule 
relative to the doctrines of faith, the worship of God, church-government 
and discipline, all relative duties, and a virtuous life and conversation. 

4. As we aim to be a true Protestant Church in our united state, we 
covenant and agree to profess unity of faith with the Protestant church in 
general, by adopting that system of Christian doctrine held forth in the 
Westminster shorter catechism and the New England Confession of Faith ; 
it being a sound, orthodox system or summary of Scripture doctrine, accord- 
ing to our understanding of the word of God. 

5. And, as we aim to be a strictly Congregational Church in point of 
church-government and discipline in our united state, we covenant and 
agree to adhere to the platform of church government and discipline drawn 
up by a synod at Cambridge in New England, A. D. 1648, as containing 
our sentiments, in the general, relative to a church-state, its power, its offi- 
cers, their ordination, the qualifications for church-membership, admission 
of members, the communion of churches, &c., &c., — in a word relative 
to church-government in general. 

And now, as a visible political union among a number of visible saints 
is necessary to constitute them a particular Congregational Church, and 
this political union or essential form is a visible covenant, agreement or 
consent, whereby they give up themselves to the Lord to the observing of 
the ordinances of Christ together in the same society; so a visible politi- 
cal union between us as churches is neccessary to constitute us one particu- 
lar Congregational Church : 

Wherefore, we, the Second and Fourth Churches of Ipswich, having 
agreed to become one united Church of Jesus Christ for the worship of 
God and the observing of his ordinances together in the same society, and 
havin" before as distinct churches covenanted with God and one another 
in a 'distinct covenant respectively, do now as churches, consistent with 
sacred regard thereto, covenant together to be one church of Jesus Christ, 
and solemnly renew covenant with God in Christ to walk and worship to- 
gether as one body, by signing together the tbllowing form or covenant * 

♦This covenant which is given in the church records is there stated to 
have been taken verba f tin fro'm the covenant framed by Rev. Mr. Higginson, 
for the church in Salem, Aug. 6, 1829; with the omission of one paragraph, 
and the addition of two paragraphs and two clauses. 



84 Congregational Cliurch and Parish, Essex. 

which is in substance the same as is understood to be the original cove- 
nant of the Second Church of Ipswich, in which it (that is the Second 
Church) was founded. 

"In testimony of our holy resolution in the strength of Christ to stand 
and walk together in the fellowship of the Gospel, in a careful observance 
of this covenant and the foregoing heads of agreement, we not only call 
Heaven and Earth to witness, but set our names hereunto, in the presence 
of an Ecclesiastical Council, this 26th day of October, 1774." 

The record proceeds : 

"It was then desired that if any of the congregation had aught to object 
to the articles, they would signify it. There was no objection. Thereupon 
the moderator, in the name and by the unanimous vote of the council, 
saluted the brethren as a united church by the name of the Second Church 
in Ipswich, and gave the right hand of fellowship to them as a sister church ; 
also gave the right hand of fellowship to the Rev. Mr. Cleaveland, as Pastor 
of the united church, and the other Elders of the Council did the same. 
The united church voted their thanks to the Council, and the business of 
the day was concluded with singing the one hundred and thirty-third and 
a part of the one hundred and twenty-second Psalms, and with prayer by 
the moderator." 

As this very year the chtirch had for the first time voted "to 
choose some of the brethren skilled in singing, to lead the 
church and congregation in the service of singing praise to 
God" — instead of the lining of the hymns by one of the dea- 
cons — and such men as Joseph Perkins, John Choate and 
Abraham Perkins were the first choristers, it is not to be 
doubted that those Psalms extolling fraternal union and pray- 
ing for the peace of Jerusalem were sung with great musical 
skill and fervor. 

The legal union of the two parishes under the name of the 
Second Parish was effected the next year, by conditions of 
union adopted by them both, March 2, 1775, and an act of 
the General Court passed on their petition, April loth. 

To Mr. Cleaveland, in his successful accomplishment of this 
so desirable but difficult undertaking, could properly be ap- 
plied the prophecy of Isaiah : "Thou shalt raise up the foun- 
dations of many generations ; and thou shalt be called the 
repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in." 



Tivo HnndrcdtJi Anniversary. 85 

Most fully merited was the tribute paid to his memory for 
this beneficent work, by Rev. Dr. Parish of Byfield in his 
memorial discourse preached not long after Mr. Cleaveland's 
death : 

"That Mr. Cleaveland was a man of consummate prudence, of irre- 
proachable conduct, of meekness of temper and suavity of manners we 
have ample evidence in the union which has taken place under his minis- 
try, between the two churches and congregations, which now compose 
this society. 

At first, he was the minister of only one of these when very probably 
both, possessing the spirit of the times, might not unjustly be compared 
to two clouds, which at every moment disgorge the thunder and dart terrific 
flames ; but, by the attractive influence of him whose death we all deplore, 
the clouds, dissolving, lost their awful form, the storm was hushed, the 
darkness fled. The gentle shower, the peaceful bow succeeds." 

REV. MR. cleaveland's CHAPLALNCIES. 

3. The third kind of service which Mr. Cleaveland ren- 
dered the community was in "his military chaplancies. Like 
his eminent predecessor, Rev. Mr. Wise, he served his country 
in this office in two wars, with a sincere and fearless patriotism. 

In the French and Indian War (1756-1763) he was com- 
missioned March 13, 1758, on the staff of Gen. Bagley of the 
Third Provincial Regiment of Foot, the fourth company of 
which was made up of Chebacco and Hamilton men, officers 
and privates, in the army of Gen. Abercrombie, which was 
to attempt the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. Travelling on 
horseback Mr. C. joined his regiment at Albany, and was 
with it on the northward march early in June, to and across 
Lake George; in the bloody and disastrous fight which 
followed, on the 8th, not far from its northwest shore, in an 
attempt to force the intrenchments of the French posted 
there ; in its retreat ; and during the remainder of the sea- 
son until autumn. Obtaining a furlough, he returned home 
in October. 

The next summer his regiment was ordered to reinforce 
the garrison occupying the fortress of Louisburg oh the island 



86 Congregational CJuirch and ParisJi, Essex. 

of Cape Breton, (which had been taken in 1758), during the 
operations of Gen. Wolfe against Quebec. Mr. Cleaveland, 
"much affected by the parting scene with wife and chil- 
dren," as he writes, sailed from Boston, July 14, on the sloop 
Wilmot, Capt. Gay, and because of fogs, calms and head- 
winds had a voyage of fourteen days to the island. There 
he was occupied with his duties as chaplain until, Quebec 
having fallen and the troops having been ordered back to 
New England, he started on his return voyage, Oct. 30, 1759 
and arrived in Boston, Nov. 9. 

During these absences his pulpit was supplied a part of the 
time by neighboring ministers. Often there was no preach- 
ing, but a meeting was held every Sabbath and prayers were 
always offered for the pastor and the soldiers. 

Not only is the sea-chest he took with him on this expedi- 
tion preserved in the Essex Institute at Salem, together with 
his commission signed by Gov. Pownall, but also his journal 
and letters ; from which we learn quite fully of his preaching 
and his private exhortations to the soldiers, his ministering 
to them when sick, sending their messages home, and com- 
municating to their friends tidings of their welfare, sometimes 
of their sickness and death ; his lamentations over the pro- 
fanity and other vices prevalent in the army, and various 
experiences of camp and garrison life. On the voyage he 
had prayers night and morning, and he reports a great refor- 
mation from swearing, among the crew, through his expostu- 
lations with them. The editor of that portion of the Journal, 
which has been published in the Historical Collections of the 
Essex Institute, fitly remarks : 

"These journals abundantly show also that he knew how to mingle on 
terms the most friendly with men whose habits of life and thought had 
always been very different from his own. It is impossible to doubt that 
the British nobleman, the English colonel, and even the Church of Eng- 
land clergyman, with whom he then and there came in contact, fully 
appreciated and readily acknowledged the solid worth of this poor, but 
brave, Yankee, Puritan, Congregational Minister." 



Two Hiindrcdtli Anniversary. 87 

A few extracts from his journal and the Louisburg letters to 
his wife, which have never before been printed, are as follows : 

"I need help from above to be wise and faithful. I desire jou and all 
the christian friends to praj for me, that I may be a fisher of men, and 
may cast the net on the right side of the ship." 

Aug. 22. "1 live very comfortably here, but not so agreeably as in my 
own family, with my best friends. But I doubt not in the least of my 
being called by Providence to be here as yet. And, O, that my being here 
may not be in vain, but that God would own and bless me and make me a 
blessing to many ready to perfsh. Profane swearing seems to be the natu- 
ralized language of the Regulars in general. Last Lord's day I preached 
from the words of Christ, 'But I say unto you, swear not at all.' We had 
a very crowded assembly; vastly more Regulars than Provincials. My 
Lord Rollo, the Governor's Lieut. Col., was present." 

"One thing looks encouraging: that every time we meet we are more 
and more thronged, and last Sabbath in the afternoon, the house was 
crowded quite full, half an hour before the bell rang, and it was said that 
in the time of worship, as many stood around the house, as were within ; 
and to appearance they gave very earnest attention. But nothing will be 
efficacious, unless the arm of the Lord is revealed and the Divine Spirit 
poured out. O pray for me, and let my people know, as you have opportu- 
nity, that I desire they would continue instant in prayer for me. And give 
my kind regards to all the ministers that are so good as to preach for me in 
my absence, and let them know it is my earnest desire they would pray 
much for me and stir up the godly, as they have opportunity to do the 
same." 

Sept. 2. "I am not without hopes that God will bless my labors in 
Louisburg, especially among the Regulars. The seats in the meeting- 
house are commonly filled with them before the Provincials get there, and 
they give such good attention." 

On the Sabbath after the news of the taking of Quebec 
was received, Mr. Cleaveland "preached on the occasion of 
the recent victory to a full and solemn house." The Sabbath 
following, Oct. 14, he "preached to a very crowded house 
indeed." The i 5th was "a day of rejoicing over the victories 
at Quebec. The weather was greatly like winter." On the 
19th "the rejoicing still continued." Oct. 25th was observed 
as a day of religious thanksgiving and Mr. C. again preached to 
the garrison, from Heb. 13, 13. 

On the voyage home he wrote : 



88 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

" Nov. 4. (Sabbath), There was no walking on deck on account of the 
roughness of the sea. Met a little privateer with English colors ; hailed 
her, but she made no answer. One or two other ships made their appear- 
ance and hoisted the red flag, and we the blue. At 4 p.m., we saw land 
along shore for several leagues. After filling, tacking and floating, the 
wind sprang up at midnight, much in our favor." 

" Nov. Sth. A fine breeze, pleasant weather, and hopes of soon getting 
home. The Lord be praised for such a favorable breeze." 

"Nov. 9th. Fair wind still continuing — good dinner. We ran well 
until sunrise, than it began to rain. The light is ahead, but the wind dies 
awav and we move slowly. However, bj gentle breaths we arrived at 
Boston, and cast anchor by 3 o'clock, p.m." 

"'Nov. nth. (Sabbath), Went to Mr. Bowles' and dined, then crossed 
Charlestown ferry, got a horse and did not get down from it, until I reached 
my own door, where I found my family well. Thanks to the Most High 
God, for his good hand over me, in returning me in safety. What shall I 
render to God for all his benefits toward me? God grant me grace to walk 
answerable to the mercies I have received. Amen and Amen." 

In the earliest preparations for armed resistance to Great 
Britain near the close of 1774, Chebacco was on the alert to 
do its part. Of the meeting held Dec. 20, for organizing a 
military company of foot, at which sixty-eight men signed 
the muster-roll of the "Training Band," Mr. Cleaveland was 
the clerk. And the strong probability is, both from their 
sentiment and phraseology, that the courageous and patriotic 
"Resolutions" passed at that meeting and preserved in his 
hand-writing, were drawn up by him. Two of these are as 
follows : 

" 2. Resolx'cd: That the officers, who shall be chosen and shall accept of 
the choice, shall hold themselves obliged, in obedience to their superior 
Officers appointed agreeable to the advice of the Provincial Congress, to 
send us forth to action in the Field of Battle in Defence of our constitu- 
tional privileges, whensoever there shall be a manifest call for it against 
our common enemies." 

"4. Resolved: That we will yield such Obedience to the commands of 
the Officers that shall be chosen and shall accept of the choice, as the Pro- 
vincial Laws respecting the Militia require ; and submit to such punish- 
ments, in case of Delinquency in us, as the said Laws also require." 

After the Lexington and Concord fight we find Mr. 
Cleaveland at Watertown, June i , to tender to the leaders 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 89 

such services as he could render, and the next month acting 
as chaplain of Col. Little's regiment, the 17th Foot, Conti- 
nental army (enlisted July i ), with his quarters in Hollis Hall, 
one of the College buildings at Cambridge ; his youngest son, 
a boy of sixteen, as his attendant and his three other sons 
and his two brothers (one a Colonel) also among the host 
gathered about Boston. A few of his letters of this time are 

extant. 

Aug. 28, he writes to Dr. N. Daggett, President of Yale 

College : 

"An unnatural war! We hear its confused noises and see garments 
rolled in blood. Yesterday the cannon roared all day long from both sides. 
Two of our men killed, one wounded. We killed some of the enemy; 
sunk one of their floating batteries and disabled another. Our people in 
high spirits and extremely impatient to be at the enemy. This moment 
the drums are beating an alarm. It is said the enemy are coming out. I 
wish they would, but doubt about their having courage to leave their lines 
to attempt to force ours." 

Obliged to return to his parochial duties, he writes, Nov. 
28, 1775, from Chebacco to his three sons, John. Parker and 
Ebenezer, who were then in the Army : 

" I hope 3'ou are all well. Our love is to you all ; wish you to write and 
let me know what is passing in the army, and your circumstances. I don't 
know when 1 shall come again to the army. The weather is such that I 
cannot perform the duties of a chaplain abroad, if I was present. It is 
somewhat likely I shall come week after next." 

Dec. 8, he writes that he is going to camp as soon as his 
surtout is made. 

Dec. 10, 1775. To his son John, he writes: 

"I suppose your campaign is now expired and your face set homeward. 
But I hope you will soon return to the help of the Lord against the mighty. 
God has done great things for us by sea and by land, since we have en- 
gaged in defence of our rights; and though the wickedness of the army is 
great, I hope and believe that God will plead our cause ; but the wicked he 
will punish for their wickedness. The Lord keep me, my brother, and our 
sons from having any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. 



90 Congregational Church and ParisJi, Essex. 

but that we rather reprove them and be made instrumental of procuring 
temporal salvation for the land, and be made subjects ourselves of eternal 
salvation." 

To Col. Phinney he writes : 

'' Chebacco, Dec. 13, 1775. Dear Sir. By reason of the coldness of the 
weather being such that I could not perform Divine service abroad in the 
open air at camp, I have been at home for some time. I shall come to 
camp again shortly, but don't expect to tarry in winter season, for the above 
mentioned reason." "It grieves me that there is so much profaneness in 
our army. I should think officers might do much to suppress it, and trust 
there is not so much in your regiment as in those where some of the chief 
officers don't set the best example before their men, relative to it; yet I 
hope God will appear for us, ere the spring comes." 

In the autumn of 1776 when the mihtia were called out to 
protect the frontiers of Connecticut and aid in guarding sup- 
plies, Mr. Cleaveland again took the position of chaplain, 
in the Third Essex Regiment commanded by his young par- 
ishioner and friend, Col. Jonathan Cogswell, and containing 
the Chebacco company of over sixty men, among them the 
chaplain's youngest son. The regiment marched from home 
Sept. 25th and was stationed for a time at Fairfield on the 
Sound. Mr. Cleaveland joined it Oct. 9th, on the 15th wrote 
to his son Parker as follows : 

"I arrived six days ago in health and found Nehemiah and all our Ipswich 
company in health; and the little army, stationed in this town consisting 
of two regiments is in general in very good health and behaves well. We 
hear no profaneness amongst them and they attend divine service in the 
meeting house night and morning very cheerfully and seriously, to all 
appearance." 

The regiment was also in the battle of White Plains, Oct. 
28th, in which though many were killed and wounded on 
both sides, the British failed of their object, which was to get 
possession of the eastern roads and cut off supplies. After 
occupying post with most of the New England troops under 
Gen. Lee at North Castle, the regiment was ordered home 
early in the winter, when New Jersey had become the chief 
seat of war. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 9^ 

Unable at his age to endure the exposures to health, of life 
in camp and on the march, or even to be absent from his 
parish for any great length of time, by the example he had 
already given as well as by his words he inspired his sons 
with a patriotic spirit and gave them to his country. 

The oldest, Lieut. John Cleaveland, served through the 
whole war, and was the rest of his life a faithful soldier of 
Jesus Christ in the gospel ministry. Ebenezer was first a 
private in the army, afterwards served on a privateer, was taken 
prisoner, exchanged or liberated, and died of fever on board 
a continental ship on his return home from the West Indies.* 

The other two were also in the service for a considera- 
ble time, one as surgeon-in-chief of a Continental regiment. 
Aftenvards through long lives they were among the most emi- 
nent physicians of their day in Essex county, serving also 
with marked ability and influence in public life — both of them 
often in the Legislature, one in the State and United States 
constitutional conventions, and the other a judge and afterwards 
chief justice of the Court of Sessions for a long period. They 
were both conscientious christian men of strong religious 
convictions. 



*Respectinghis death Mr. Cleaveland wrote a characteristic and touching 
letter to another of his sons, which is in part as follows : 

"Chebacco, April 25, 1780. My dear Son. How fading are all things 
here below ! On Friday last we had the heavy and certain news of the death 
of your brother Ebenezer. He dyed, according to Capt. Odle's book, the 
30th of March, on board the continental ship Eustis, Capt. Samuel Bishop, 
in latitude 25°, coming home from Eustatia, last. The Captain said your 
brother rejoiced, or was glad the time of his departure had come. Capt. 
Odle and several others said Ebenezer had his reason to the last, but was 
not able to speak much the day he died. Your brother being dead yet 
speaketh and preacheth a lecture 'Be ye also ready' — louder than ever your 
father preached, or than ever we heard thunder roar. Oh that it may touch 
the heart to the centre and rouse up all the powers of the soul! to what.? 
Why to be still and know that the Supreme Being is God, and to glorify 
him as God, by a life of faith in him and obedience to Christ, who is the 
head over all i/iniifs, and does all things 7i>ell. Let us think and spcai- well 
of him and of cill his administration in providence and grace." 



92 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

A remark sometimes made by aged persons, seventy years 
ago, who remembered the days of the Revohition, that he 
"preached all the men of his parish into the army and then 
went himself," also attests Mr. Cleaveland's zeal for the cause 
as well as his great influence over the people of Chebacco. 
And so what his eulogist. Dr. Parish, declared after his death 
was literally true : 

"Active and enterprising, he repeatedly left the silence of his study for 
the din of war; the joys of domestic peace for the dangers of the bloody 
field. The waters of Champlain, the rocks of Cape Breton^ the fields of 
Cambridge and the banks of the Hudson listened to the fervor of his ad- 
dresses."* 

And his patriotic example, together with his preaching, 
helps us more clearly to understand why President John 
Adams once said to a French statesman, that "American in- 
dependence was mainly due to the clergy." 

Such was Mr. Cleaveland's zeal in his religious work; and 
such his services in uniting the two Chebacco churches and in 
his two army chaplaincies. 

REV. MR. cleaveland's LATER YEARS. 

The remaining years of the century after the war of Inde- 
pendence was over, he seems to have passed in quiet and 
serenity, dwelling among his own people, like a sort of patri- 
arch, active and energetic to the last in all the duties of his 
ministerial calling. 

In 1790 the pleasant relations between him and his parish 
were illustrated by their movement to build a new and com- 
paratively costly meeting house. This they completed within 
about three years and on the 8th of October 1793 he had the, 
great satisfaction of preaching to a large audience the dedi- 
cation sermon, from Acts x: 33. 

*Mr. Cleaveland's Revolutionary camp-chest is in the Essex Institute; 
and the rude buck-horn handled sword, which he wore in all his campaigns, 
has been preserved and is now in the possession of one of his descendants. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 93 

It was not until about this time that hymns began to be read 
by the minister in the Sabbath worship, as they are now ; and 
not until about five years earlier than this that choirs began 
to do the singing. On this occasion, "the singing was con- 
ducted with great animation and power, the choir being led 
by Mr. Isaac Longof Hopkinton, N. H., one of the builders 
of the meeting-house." 

In this edifice, also, Mr. Cleaveland preached, March 8, 
1797, a half-century lecture from Acts xxvi : 22; which he 
concluded with these words ; 

I am now near the close of the seventy-fifth year of my age, and have especial 
reason with uniform gratitude to the Supreme L^isposer of all good events, 
to say: 'Having obtained help of God I continue unto this day.' For 
near fifty-five years since, while at college, I was taken sick of a violent 
fever, which deprived me of my reason and ran high upon me for forty 
days; and for near a fortnight my life was despaired of by my attendants 
and all who saw me. Even the President of the college was so apprehen- 
sive of my dying then, that he prepared a funeral sermon to be preached 
on account of my expected decease. But in the moment of extremity the 
Lord appeared and plucked me as a brand from the burning, and having 
obtained help of God I continue unto this time, to my surprise as often as 
I think of it. While that president and two presidents besides, and a large 
number of my fellow-students are gone to their long home. , And this day, 
fiftv years ago I was ordained a pastor of a flock of Christ in this place, 
and here have continued to preach the gospel half a century." 

That Mr. Cleaveland, with all his influence among his peo- 
ple, never arrogated to himself any authority over them, but 
continued to the last to recognize the supremacy of the broth- 
erhood and the responsibility resting upon them in all eccle- 
siastical matters, (things which it has been aptly said are 
"fundamental in the constitution of Congregational churches, 
and essential to the success of this form of church polity,") is 
well illustrated by a vote of the church of April 30, 1797 on 
receiving an invitation to join other churches in an ordammg 
council. It was voted to comply with the invitation but not 
to choose a delegate, "until the church should hear the can- 
didate preach a sermon or two." Having, May 28th, heard 



94 Congregational CJutrch and Parish, Essex. 

him preach "to good acceptance three sermons," they chose 
their delegate, both they and their pastor, then as ahvays, 
considering the participation of the church in such an affair 
to be no mere form, but a transaction in which the whole body 
was a responsible party. 

Living on still longer and completing the fifty-second year 
of his ministry and the seventy-seventh of his life, and on 
the last Sabbath but one before the end preaching with his 
usual animation, he died on the twenty-second of April 1799, 
coming to his grave /;/ a full age, like as a sJiock of corn 
cometh in, in his season. 

After such a career, "eminently a faithful watchman, being 
ever ready and apt to teach," an eloquent man and mighty 
in .the Sct'iptures, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, as he 
had been, no wonder that Rev. Mr. Dana of Ipswich took 
for the text of his funeral sermon the cry of Elisha at the 
translation of Elijah : "My father, my father, the chariot of 
Israel and the horsemen thereof." 

And most fitly did the Rev. Dr. Parish of Byfield, in his 
memorial discourse from Psalms cxvi : 15, delivered in the de- 
ceased pastor's pulpit on the second of June following, rise 
to a lofty strain of glowing eulogy in his appreciative delin- 
eation of the character of his venerated elder in the ministry. 

With the published descriptions of Mr. Cleaveland's per- 
sonal appearance all are familiar, — -his erect muscular form, 
his stature of nearly six feet, his florid complexion and blue 
eyes, his amiable and benevolent face into which every body 
loved to look. According to his own memorandum he weighed 
in 1769 two hundred and seven pounds, and in 1773 two 
hundred and thirty pounds. He was a man of strong con- 
stitution and ardent temperament ; his voice heavy and of 
great compass. 

One of his younger contemporaries said of Mr. Cleaveland 
as a preacher and writer: 

"An earnest spirit, an unpolished energy and a sincerity which none 



Tivo Hiindrcdtli Anniversary. 95 

could question characterized him in the pulpit. His familiarity with the 
Scriptures was proverbial; his general learning respectable. His writings 
though often forcible and fervent could lay no claim to elegance." 

One of his descendants refers to some of the most prominent 
quaHties of his character in these words: "An earnest and 
honest man, conscientious, faithful and affectionate, actingf 
and speaking ahvays under a high sense of duty and throwing 
his whole heart into everything he said or did." 

III. The last, and of course the briefest, division of this 
historical review has to do with the present century, a period 
less eventful than the two preceding, but, in decided contrast 
with them, distinguished on the whole for calm, steady, spir- 
itual progress and for the great activity of the church in all 
good works, the successive pastors preeminently zealous and 
leading the way but the brotherhood cooperating and exer- 
cising their varied gifts for the same end. 

Out of all that has taken place during this period two things 
at least should be specified as conspicuously characterizing 
the life of the church, and therefore as worthy of record. 

I. As has been true everywhere else in New England, this 
has been in this community, on the whole, emphatically the 
era of seasons of special and sometimes intense but thought- 
ful and rational religious interest. 

Because we do not find any such revivals taking place in 
the two earliest pastorates of the century, that of Rev. Josiah 
Webster, extending from Nov. 13, 1799 to July 23, 1806, and 
that of Rev. Thomas Holt from Jan. 25, 1809 to April 20, 
1 81 3, it would be an unwarrantable inference and most unchari- 
table to impute any lack of faithfulness or of pious earnestness 
to these ministers. The condition of the times, just then, 
was most unfavorable to the spiritual life and prosperity of 
society everywhere. Some of the demoralizing influences 
resulting from the Revolutionary war and from contact with 
French infidelity still remained ; political party spirit, the 
animosity between Federalists and Republicans, was intense. 



96 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

exceedingly bitter and often personal ; there was great excite- 
ment throughout the land occasioned by the encroachments 
of England upon the rights and interests of this nation, in- 
creasing from the noted attack upon the Chesapeake in 1807, 
down to their culmination in 1812, and the outbreak of war; 
and in part as aconsequence of this state of things, the churches 
generally were in a condition of stagnation and deadness. 

Through the preaching of some Christian Baptist ministers 
in the south part of the town, beginning with 1805, and the 
interest awakened in their meetings, (which resulted in the 
formation of the Christian society in 1808), our parish was 
somewhat weakened, and the congregation diminished in 
numbers, near the close of Mr. Webster's pastorate. 

REV. MR. WEBSTER'S PASTORATE. 

We have however the testimony of some of those who 
were his parishioners, that he was an acceptable and inter- 
esting preacher, a zealous christian leader, exerting all his 
energies for the promotion of godliness in the community 
and greatly beloved by his church and people. 

At Mr. Webster's settlement here there were forty-seven 
members of the church, only thirteen of whom were men, 
several of these quite advanced in years, and one of them a 
non-resident. 

One of these aged disciples was Dea. Jonathan Cogswell, 
at that time seventy-four years old, who died in 18 12 aged 
eighty-six. Another of just about the same age was Capt. 
Aaron Foster, a soldier at the taking of Louisbourg in 1745 
and a member of the church from the year 1763, who lived 
to the age of eighty-seven. 

Almost the only other man active in religious matters was 
Dea. Grover Dodge, a native of Hamilton but a resident of 
this town from his youth, always and universally respected 
as a citizen, a convert in the great revival of 1763, acting as 
deacon from 181 2 till 1821 and later, a consistent christian, 



Two HundredtJi Anniversary. 97 

'an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile,' through a long 
life which ended in 1831. 

Among the substantial and influential men in the parish in 
this earlier part of the century, mention should be made in 
particular of three. One of these was Mr. David Choate, a 
soldier in the Revolution, always deeply interested in the 
cause of education and a successful school teacher, and often 
chosen to fill places of responsibility and trust as a man of 
unswerving integrity and weight of character. Though not 
a member of the church, he gave during the latter part of 
his life strong evidence of possessing a genuine christian 
spirit. Soon after his death in 1808 at the age of fifty-one, 
Dr. Mussey wrote : 

"Mr. Choate was a man of uncommon intellectual endowments. Though 
denied the advantages of a regular education he arrived at a degree of im- 
provement often unattained by men of the first opportunities, and possessed 
talents which would have been an honor to a statesman. In the social 
circle none were his superiors. He lived the friend and supporter of virtue 
and order, and died in hope of a happier state through the mercy of a 
Redeemer." 

Another was Col. Jonathan Cogswell, Sen., an officer in 
the Revolution, who died in 18 19 at the age of seventy-nine. 
A sketch of him written soon after his death describes him as 

"A useful citizen and magistrate, a devout christian and an excellent 
man. In public life he manifested a sound judgment and unshaken integ- 
rity and executed every trust with scrupulous fidelity. Free from all ap- 
pearance of selfishness, the happiness of others seemed the study of his 
life. His religion, as it had been the guide of his youth, became the com- 
fort of his age. The poor man's gratitude acknowledged his benevolence 
and the uniform uprightness of his department declared his fervent piety." 

Still a third was George Choate, Esq., a man who also gave 
his hearty and constant support to the institutions of religion ; 
and who held various parish offices — that of treasurer for a 
number of years ending with his death in 1826, when he was 
at the age of sixty-four. As a citizen, magistrate, town- 



98 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

officer and legislator he deservedly enjoyed the highest confi- 
dence and respect of his fellow-townsmen ; and his name has 
been perpetuated and adorned by his son, Dr. George Choate 
the eminent physician in Salem for a long period, and by 
his still more distinguished grandsons of the same profession 
and at the bar, of the present generation. 

During Mr. Webster's seven years' ministry, twenty-one 
persons united with the church. One of the eight men was 
Dr. Reuben D. Mussey, a graduate of Dartmouth College in 
1803 and engaged in the practice of medicine here from 1805 
through 1808, who filled for a time the office of church clerk 
and was a member of the Sabbath choir — a skilful player 
upon the bass-viol. The late President Lord of Dartmouth 
College wrote of him : 

"He was sometimes brusque in his manner, but he had heavenly music 
in his soul. A discord or an untimely movement fretted him. But when, 
as sometimes in the congregation or the social circle, a glorious harmony 
went up, then the strain rose from his, as if impassioned viol, in enlivening 
concert; and his chastened spirit seemed to go with it, into communion 
with the choir above." 

After further special study in Philadelphia and the prose- 
cution of his profession in Salem five years, he was a professor 
in the Medical Schools of Dartmouth and Bowdoin Colleges 
and at Cincinnati, O., in succession. He then founded and 
lectured in the Miami Medical School six years; and after 
thus spending forty-six years in medical instruction lived in 
retirement in Boston until his death in 1866, at the age of 
eighty-six. 

It is certainly an interesting fact to us and to this commu- 
nity which he several times revisited in his later life, that this 
eminent physician, among the foremost in his profession in 
scientific knowledge and skill-, began his religious life, a young 
man of twenty-five years of age, while practising his profes- 
sion in this parish ; that such a surgeon, attaining a national 
reputation, "who" as his biographer — a distinguished medical 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 99 

professor — states, "believed much in skilled surgery, some- 
thin- in nature but most of all in God, so that on the eve of 
a great operation he frequently knelt at the bed-side of the 
' patient and sought skill and strength and success from the 
great source of all vitality," first bowed the knee in social 
prayer with the members, few though they were, of this Che- 
bacco church; that the strong and noble character of the 
man whom the same writer describes as "a devoted member 
and officer of the church all his days, a constant observer of 
the Sabbath, an earnest defender and propagator of the faith, 
a .gratuitous adviser and benefactor of the poor," was nurtured 
in^its early unfolding and growth under the influences of the 
sanctuary and the people of God in this village. 

Two others who were active, working members of the church, 
forsaking not the ways of Zion, in those days when few came 
to her solemn feasts, were Mr. John Mears, a native of Che- 
bacco (born June 20, i/Z?)- converted under Mr. Webster's 
preaching, steadfast and faithful in sustaining the social relig- 
ious meetings of the church, keeping up almost to the time of 
his death, (Sept. 7, 1865 at the age of eighty-eight), his regu- 
lar attendance upon the Sabbath services though in his later 
years totallv blind, exceedingly painstaking in the religious 
training of his children, -all but one of the ten of them who 
reached maturity entering the church in their early years,— 
and Mr Nathan Burnham, a man of very much the same 
stamp quiet and undemonstrative but a pillar in the sacred 
temple, not often making exhortations but frequently taking 
part very acceptable in the devotional exercises of church- 
meetings, especially active in times of religious interest later 
on, and a deacon from 1821 until his death in i860 at the 
age of eighty-four. , , 1 

AH honor to the memory of these few who guarded and 
bore onward the ark of the Lord, almost alone, down to about 
the year 181 5, when the voice of war was again hushed and 
peace reigned throughout our borders. 



lOO Congregational CJinrcli and Parish, Essex. 

THE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 

Prior to that date we have record of only three marked 
and extensive revivals of religion in the entire history of the 
church, — in 1727, 1741 and 1763 — which have been already 
mentioned. 

Of the six of which the community has had experience 
since then, four took place during the pastorate of Rev. Robert 
Crowell which extended forty-one years, from Aug. 10, 18 14, 
when there were only six male members of the church and 
thirty-two in all, to his death, Nov. 10, 1855. 

On the third of the next January after his ordination the 
church voted to hold a meeting on the first Tuesday in every 
month for prayer and religious conversation, at the house 
of the pastor, at which some of the topics considered were : 
"the nature and duty of prayer," "the church covenant as a 
rule of duty," and "the importance of religious instruction 
for children and youth." 

From the church records it appears that the very next 
month after that, some religious interest began to manifest 
itself which continued more than two years ; one or two per- 
sons at least, (not members of the church) attending at many 
of the meetings for religious conversation or to relate their 
experience and ask admission to the church. Under date 
of March 10, 1816, mention is made of the admission of two 
persons to the church and the record reads: 

"The assembly appears solemn. May the Lord sanctify tlie solemn scene 
to the conviction and conversion of others." 

And under date of June 3d : 

'"The church met to unite in the general concert of prayer, as well as 
for mutual conversation. A few present not church members, who con- 
versed on the state of their minds, some of them under concern, and some 
having obtained a hope though nat free from all doubt. The Lord grant 
that a plentiful shower may succeed these mercy drops." 

The number of persons gathered into the church during 
this time up to Jime, 18 17 was nineteen. Whether the si.x 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 



lOI 



admitted to the church m the two years following should also 
be reckoned among the fruits ^Uhh first revival, I am unable 

'" oTe of those who united with the church in 1817 was Capt, 
Samuel Burnham (born Oct. 28, 1787) who was supermten- 
dent of the Sabbath School from .81B till .837 and ever 
after a teacher in it, was the treasurer of the church from .82 1 
till ,868, was elected deacon in 1828 and served m that office 
until his death Nov. .8, .873 at the age of «=igl">'-='^- ^^ 
a Ion., series of years he regularly conducted the Sabbath 
mornrng prayer-meeting in the chapel and the Tuesday eve- 
ning meeting from the first establishment of those serv.ces, 
and never failed in untiring devotion and efficiency m the 
dischar<.e of these and all the many responsible trusts assigned 
to him by the church,— a sincere, useful, godly man. 

The second of these periods of special religious mterest 
be™ in September, 1827 and (like its predecessor) imme- 
diately after a special meeting of the church on the first 
Sabbath evening of that month, to pray for the efi-usion of 
the Holy Spirit. It continued about nine months. Before 
the end of the first month the church clerk entered this min- 
ute upon the records: "Such an attention to the things of 
eternity has become apparent, as has not b-n witnessed 
within the memory of any but the aged." And ,n May, ,28, 
he made record that "the Sabbath morning prayer meeting, 
the Thursday evening lecture, the inquiry and church prayer- 
meetings on Tuesday evening, and either public or private 
prayer-meetings on Saturday evening are all maintained and 
with much inrerest, solemnity and feeling;" and during this 
and the two following years more than eighty persons united 
with the church, a large majority of them young marr, d 
men and women, who constituted to a very great extent the 
working force of the church for the next thirty years 

Amo'rg them all, n,ention may perhaps be properly mad 
by name of Capt. Francis Burnham, to whom the spiritual 



I02 Congregational CIiuvcIl and Parish, Essex. 

change of that revival brought a revolution in religious belief 
and the beginning of a life of most unvarying devotion to 
duty. In the use of his vigorous powers of mind and his 
possessions alike, he realized in an unusual degree the idea 
of stewardship to his divine Master. A diligent student of 
the Bible, giving daily and earnest thought to its teachings, 
his intellectual gifts were exercised in the Sabbath School, 
and often in the prayer-meeting, with great interest and profit 
to those who listened. 

A prosperous man through close attention to his business, 
he was conscientiously and heartily liberal in giving of his 
substance to all worthy charitable objects, and especially to 
Home and Foreign missions ; and from a moderate estate, he 
left at his death in legacies to ten different benevolent socie- 
ties the sum of $ii,000 in all, besides $500 each to this 
church and parish. 

Always at his post of Christian service he used the office 
of a deacon well, being found blameless, from his election to 
it in 1834, until his death Sept. 16, 1871, at the age of eighty 
years and eleven months. 

Another of those who entered upon the religious life at 
that time was Mr. John Choate, a man always devoted to the 
interests of the parish, sometimes serving it in responsible 
trusts, widely known to the community, as was written of him 
soon after his death, Oct. 18, 1863, "for his great originality 
of character, for his integrity and sterling value as a public 
man as well as for the virtues which adorned his private life." 
Though, through a certain diffidence, not much given to pub- 
lic speaking of any kind, he was a man of decided Christian 
principle, who reflected much and deeply upon the great 
truths of revelation and derived the strongest consolation 
from the faith he professed, to the end of his life. One of 
his striking remarks once made to a friend, was that "as he 
sometimes stood and looked upon the broad sheet of water 
adjoining the islands which constituted his farm, in some calm 



Two HundredtJi Anniversary. 103 

morning when the whole surface was Hke a mirror, it gave 
him, as he thought, a good idea of the full ocean of God's 
love, in which the soul of the Christian would lave itself after 
the winds and storms of life were over." 

The third rew'wdX was in 1839 when about twenty-five per- 
sons were hopefully converted ; and the fourth, in the years 
1849 and 1850, in which about thirty were brought into the 
church, most of them members of the Sabbath School ; and 
of this spiritual harvest the seed was apparently the Assem- 
bly's Catechism, in a thorough study of which large numbers 
had been spending the preceding summer, learning by heart 
this summary of Christian doctrine for the prize of a bible 
offered by the church. 

The fifth of this series of revivals occurred in the year 
1857, soon after the beginning of the ministry of Rev. James 
M. Bacon, who, — after a pastorate in Littleton from 1846 to 
1849, and in Amesbury from 1851 to 1855 — was installed 
over this church July 6, 1856. 

"Entering upon this pastorate," writes Rev. Dr. Wellman. "at the age of 
thirty-eight, matured in christian character by protracted and severe dis- 
cipline, enriched in the knowledge of Christ and his gospel and in that 
pastoral wisdom which can come or\\y from long experience in dealing 
with all classes of people, he was fitted, as never before, for the work of 
the christian ministry. Without any parade of plans or promises, he met 
his people face to face, and talked to them plainly and earnestly, as became 
a man sent from God, 'of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.' 
It was like 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord.' He was emphatically a preacher of righteousness : at the 
same time he tenderly pointed his hearers to Christ, and assured them, as 
if they had never heard the message before, that they could become recon- 
ciled to God and be saved only as they accepted Jesus as their Lord and 
Saviour. And soon the spiritual power of his labors was manifest; all 
classes were moved, and during the winter and spring of the second year 
of his pastorate the town was blessed with a powerful revival of religion. 
About fifty persons, converts in this revival, united with the church."* 

Of Mr. Bacon's interest in young men and his influence 
in leading several of them to devote themselves to the Chris- 

* Biographical sketch by Rev. J. W. Wellman, D.D., in The Congrega- 
tional Quarterly, Vol. xvii. No. S. 



I04 Congregational ChiircJi atid Parish, Essex. 

tian ministry, of his patriotic zeal and his prayers for the 
sons of his people in the army, in the war of the Rebellion, 
or of the ardent piety, the singleness of aim, the self-sacrificing 
devotion, the honest and faithful preaching of this servant of 
Christ, you have no need that I speak, for it is all in your 
memories and your hearts. 

On account of ill health, Mr. Bacon closed his labors 
here July 8, 1869. He was afterwards pastor of the church 
in Ashby from 1870 until his death March 5, 1873. 

The ministers of the church since Mr. Bacon's dismission 
have been Rev. Darius A. Moorehouse, installed June 30, 
1870, and dismissed Sept. 14, 1874; Rev. Edward G. Smith, 
installed July 15, 1875, and dismissed Feb. 8, 1877; Rev. 
John L. Harris, acting pastor for one year from May i, 1877; 
Rev. Francis H. Boynton, installed Dec. 11, 1879, and dis- 
missed May 18, 1882; Rev. Frank H. Palmer, acting pastor 
since Oct. i, 1882. 

The sixth and most recent revival of this century took 
place during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Smith, in 1875—6, and 
brought into the church forty-one members. 

2. The second thing especially noticeable in the history 
of this church and parish, during the last seventy years, is 
the religious activity of their members in a great variety of 
ways, a few of which it may be proper to enumerate. 

One instance of the outworking of this spirit of religious 
enterprise, we find, in the provision made in 1820 for a suit- 
able place (which down to that time had been lacking) for 
the social religious meetings and other gatherings of the 
church and society. For this purpose some members of the 
parish, — prominent among whom were Messrs. Joseph Choate, 
John Dexter and William Andrews, Jr., — took upon them- 
selves the care and expense of erecting a chapel, which was 
dedicated with appropriate religious services in December of 
that year. 

In one of its rooms adapted to that use, the liberality of 



Two Hundredth Annivcrsajy. 105 

others deposited, the very next year, a church Hbrary which 
had its beginning in 18 15 in one hundred volumes of books 
presented by a number of donors to the church. This 
gradually increased in size until it numbered more than two 
hundred volumes of standard theological and other religious 
works and was for many years a source of much interest and 
instruction to a considerable portion of the members of the 
church. 



INTEREST IN MISSIONS. 

In this building also, from the first opening of it, was held 
the monthly missionary concert, (which had been omitted 
for some time for want of a convenient place to meet in and 
which just about the year 1 820 began to be observed generally 
in the churches), and the meetings of a society organized 
in 1826 for the special support of the cause of missions. 

Following if not directly stimulated by this development 
of an interest in christian work among the heathen was the 
awakening of a deeper regard for Home missions, leading to 
practical efforts for the cultivation of waste places near at 
hand. To the establishment and support of the Congrega- 
tional churches in Lanesville and Gloucester Harbor liberal 
contributions were statedly made for a long period. 

Many "shares," as the gifts in money were called, were 
taken in the new meeting-house in West Gloucester in 1833 ; 
and to the newly organized church there, which consisted at 
first only of women, two of our members, Messrs. John Choate 
and John S. Burnham were regularly dismissed to become 
its deacons. They officiated in that capacity several years, 
until, through the blessing of God upon that Home missionary 
endeavor in the increase of that church, their services were 
no longer required. 

For the promotion of various Christian objects that chapel 
proved an exceedingly serviceable structure for twenty years, 



io6 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

until the remodeling of the meeting-house in 1842 furnished 
more commodious apartments for these same ends. 

Another illustration of this forwardness for religious work 
which prevailed, and of the steadfastness in it, is found in a 
vote of the church in a time of religious interest in 1828, 
appointing a large committee to go forth two by two, to visit 
the families of the parish, for the purpose of conversing with 
them on the necessity of giving immediate attention to the 
subject of religion, and a vote a few days later that the whole 
church be a committee for that purpose ; as also in the can- 
vassing of the town in 1835 to see what proportion of the in- 
habitants attended no religious meeting on the Sabbath. 

THE TUESDAY EVENING PRAYER MEETING. 

But it especially appears in the establishment, in 1828, of 
the Tuesday evening prayer-meeting, held at the houses of 
many of the church members in turn, in different parts of 
the parish, for along series of years, and of late in the confer- 
ence room of the church. 

This meeting, sustained wholly by laymen already for 
upwards of half a century, has certainly a remarkable record, 
as regards the vigor with which it has been for the most part 
sustained, the wide range of doctrinal and practical topics 
discussed in it, the freedom, ability and originality with which 
they were often handled, the suggestive, stimulating and 
edifying thoughts expressed, the fervent prayers offered, 
and its usefulness in feeding the flame of christian feeling and 
nourishing the spiritual life of the church. In all these and 
manifold other ways it has been accomplishing a great and 
excellent work ; and many who have attended owe more than 
can be described to the fathers and brothers, among the dead 
and the living, who have been the indefatigable upholders 
and the shining lights of this social Christian meeting for devo- 
tion and conference. 



Tzvo Hundredth Anniversary. 107 

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. 

Still a third form of this activity of the brotherhood ap- 
peared at the beginning of the Temperance movement in 
1829. When, after an address in the meeting-house July 16, 
there was a call to organize the Essex Temperance Society 
on the principle of total abstinence, seven persons besides 
the minister responded with their signatures to the pledge ; 
whose names, were Winthrop Low (the first president), Samuel 
Burnham, John Choate, John Perkins, Jonathan Eveleth, 
Francis Burnham and David Choate, all members of this 
parish, and all but one, members of the church. Within a 
year following, besides the twenty-nine ladies who enrolled 
their names, there were eleven men, all of this parish, and all 
but two of them, church members, who also signed the pledge. 
Although at first there was strong and bitter opposition, 
the members of the society were full of zeal ; they procured 
lecturers on the subject and carried the reform steadily onward, 
until public sentiment was completely revolutionized. As 
early as 1833, so great was its influence, that the town voted 
"no license;" and soon an advance was made to abstinence 
from fermented liquors. 

THE SABBATH SCHOOL. 

By far the most important kind of practical work, however, 
in which the Christian spirit of a large number of the men and 
women of this church has found scope for its exercise, has 
been the teaching of the Scriptures and the religious training 
of the children and youth in the Sabbath school, which was 
first established in 18 14 but the conduct of which was for so 
long a period of time in the hands of Hon. David Choate.* 

A deacon in the church from 1828 until his death Dec. 17, 
1872, at the age of seventy-six, and its clerk for forty years, 

*A biographical sketch of Dea. Choate was published in The Congre- 
gatiotial Quarterly, Vol. xvi'i. No. 4. 



io8 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

the particular form of service for the church in which he took 
the greatest deHght and to which he devoted his best energies 
was the management of this institution, the superintendence 
of which from his appointment to it in 1837, he held through 
a long life, and to which he imparted the peculiar character 
for which it has been so widely known, largely by the general 
exercise he introduced, in which he himself reviewed and 
commented upon the important points of the lessons statedly 
assigned. Into this informal instruction he entered with a 
genuine enthusiasm. So well did he know the avenues to the 
youthful mind and heart and with such tact could he address 
himself to those who were older, that his expositions of the 
word of God were " like apples of gold in pictures of silver," 
or "as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies." Discern- 
ing well that "the imagination is the grand organ by which 
the truth can make successful approaches to the mind," he 
would so picture a Bible scene, sketch one of its characters, 
or illumine whatever particular truth was under consideration, 
that his hearers could not fail to comprehend and to carry 
away a lasting impression. 

This general exercise, however, was not confined to the 
lesson for the day, but had great variety given to it in many 
ways and thus became the distinguishing feature of the 
school, sustaining and deepening the interest of all who were 
connected with it, binding them together like members of one 
family and becoming a most effective means of religious 
training. 

The Sabbath school has been always large in numbers ; it 
has been noted for the system with which it has been con- 
ducted and its liberal gifts to benevolent objects ; but its real 
excellence has lain in its remarkable power to mould the 
characters of those who have grown up under its influence. 
It has set upon them its impress like the seal upon wax. 

One proof of this, which may be appropriately referred to 
here, is found in the significant fact that most if not all of 



Two Hundredth Aimivcrsary. 109 

those who have been actively engaged in these various forms 
of Christian work, which have pecuharly characterized the 
last seventy years, received their own refligious training in 
this nursery of the church; Among them (in addition to 
those already mentioned) may be named Messrs. Uriah G. 
Spofford, John S. Burnham, Jeremiah Cogswell, Nathan 
Burnham, 3d, Moses Perkins and Robert W. Burnham, to- 
gether with the present officers and other members of the 
church. > 

A full exhibition of the history and work of the School 
during its first fifty years has fortunately been preserved in 
the elaborate, complete and exceedingly interesting historical 
address delivered by Superintendent Choate at its semi cen- 
tennial anniversary, which was celebrated by public exercises, 
Dec. 26, 1864. 

While each of these three periods in the history of this 
church, over which we have cast our backward glance, is thus 
seen to have its peculiar characteristics and its special mission, 
while there is exhibited to us through the records of each 
era in turn the foundation work of the seventeenth century, 
the reconstructive and uplifting work of the eighteenth century 
and the Sabbath School and other Christian work of the laity 
in the nineteenth century, yet we can also see as we trace the 
thread of events, as we gather up and examine the various in- 
cidents falling under our notice along the pathway we have 
taken and picture to ourselves the differing scenes bright or 
dark, by passing through which this church has been cheered 
or chastened, that these periods are only successive stages, — 
the infancy, youth and maturity — of one and the same life, 
which "vital in every part cannot but by annihilating die," and 
which may never grow old, but b\- waiting upon the Lord 
may ever renew its strength. 

And it is the underlying and unchanging, substantial quali- 
ties of this life, first and foremost the lo\'ing spirit of Jesus 
the Lord with which this church has ever been inspired, the 



iio Congregational C/utrch and Parish, Essex. 

strength of its faith and the truth of its creed attested by its 
fruitfulness in all good works, the scriptural simplicity of its 
church order and the purity and power of its pulpit, which have 
made it to so great a degree the conservative, elevating, puri- 
fying element in society, and which therefore demand on this 
commemoration-day the tribute of our deepest reverence 
and our warmest affection and gratitude. 

This life of the church, however, really consists in the 
life of its individual members. And so it is the piety and 
devotion, the ability and learning of its ministers ; it is the 
long line and the solid column of its laymen of vigorous 
minds, with their diversity of gifts but animated by the 
same spirit, rock-like in the solidity of their Christian prin- 
ciple, thrifty "as the trees of lignaloes which the Lord hath 
planted," flourishing and fruitful even in old age ; it is the 
goodly company of saintly women, whose lives have been 
like an alabaster box of precious ointment, broken and poured 
out at the feet of their Divine Lord in consecration to His 
service, in their approving themselves in all things as servants 
of God, by pureness, by love unfeigned, by the armor of 
righteousness, and by the almsdeeds which they have done ; — 
Yes, it is the dear fathers and mothers, your ancesters and 
mine, who wrought their very being into this church and 
brought us under its benign and blessed influences, before 
whose memories we rise up to-day in reverence and honor, 
and for whom, on this occasion, we have reason for giving 
our humble and most hearty thanks to Him who is the head 
over all things to the church. 

Six generations of this host have already crossed the flood. 
Many of those with whom our own lives are linked by holiest 
ties and precious recollections have vanished out of our sight, 
though they still seem to "hover about us, and we now and 
then instinctively turn to behold the faces and hear the voices 
of those we have so loved and revered ; and with reference 
to them we must use the poet's words : 



Tivo Hundredth Ainiivcrsary. 1 1 1 

"Look where we ma^', the wide earth o'er, 
Those lighted faces smile no more. 
We tread the paths their feet have worn, 
We sit beneath the orchard trees. 
We hear, like them, the hum of bees 
And rustle of the bearded corn ; 
Their written words we linger o'er. 
But in the sun thej cast no shade, 
No voice is heard, no sign is made. 
No step is on the conscious floor." 

Yet, of all these faithful followers of a divine Master who 
came among men not to be ministered unto but to minister, 
of them all whose ambition was righteousness and Christian 
service, it may in truth be said that though they had none of 
that renown among men which has been compared to "a snow- 
flake on hot water, a touch and it's vanished," for "the brighest 
names that earth can boast just glisten and are gone," still 
their works do follow them. Such characters of spiritual 
strength and beauty, as they were fashioned into, are and always 
will be a living force in the community, in themselves a ben- 
efaction to the world around them of substantial and perma- 
nent value. 



flDDI^ESS ON r^EV. (30HN TOlSE. 

BY REV. H. :,I. DSXTER, D. D., OF BOSTON. 

There seem to have been four classes among the early set- 
tlers of the Massachusetts Colony. There were first, those 
who paid for their passage, and stood in the same relation as 
if original subscribers of ^^"50 to the common stock; second, 
those contributing skill in art or trade, who received remuner- 
ative in money or land ; third, those who exhausted their 
humble ability in paying a part of their expenses, agreeing 
to earn the rest here ; and, fourth, those who came distinctly 
as indentured serving-men, who, in return, were held to labor 
for a term of years; having a claim the while for support 
from their masters. This last class was, possibly, more num- 
erous than has been always understood. Thomas Dudley in his 
Letter to the Countess of Lincoln, of date 12-22 Mar. 1630*, 
says that when Winthrop's company arrived, in the summer 
before, they found the condition of those who had been sent 
over in the previous two years so straitened and grievous, 
that, lacking provisions, they were obliged to cancel the in- 
dentures of all who remained of one hundred and eighty such 
serving-men, although it had cost from ;i^i6 to ;{^20 apiece to 
bring them over. 

Such serving-men naturally came from humble homes, but 
many of them were worthy and faithful ; and they, or their 
children, rose to respectability and usefulness in the common- 
wealth. 



♦Younij's Chronicles of Mass. 
15 



3"- 



114 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

In Winthrop's Company was one George Alcock, who had 
married the sister of Thomas Hooker,* who was a physician 
and deacon ; of whom John Ehot left on the Roxbury church- 
book the loving and creditable record, that:f "he lived in a 
good and godly sort, and dyed in the end of the loth month 
ano. 1640, and left a good savor behind him ; the Pore of the 
church much bewailing his losse." In the ten years of his 
New England life Dr. Alcock made two voyages to England, 
in the latter of which, probably,! he brought over, as an in- 
dentured attendant of the fourth class referred to, one Joseph 
Wise. Making his will a few days before his death, he inser- 
ted this clause :§ "to my servant Joseph Wise [I give] my 
young heifer, & the rest of his time from after mid-somer 
next." Joseph made so good use of his time, not to mention 
the heifer, that a little inside of five months [3-13 Dec. 1641] 
after the midsummer in question, he married Mary Thompson. || 
In the nearly three-and-forty years between that date and his 
death, 12-22 September 1684, thirteen children from his house- 
hold were baptized in Roxbury, to wit;** Joseph, Jeremiah, 
Sarah, Mary, John, Henry, Bethia, Katharine, Benjamin, 
William, Benjamin (again), Abigail and Jeremiah (the sec- 
ond). John, third son and fifth child, was baptized 15-25 July 
1652, just five months and eight days before the death of John 
Cotton. Thomas Hooker had been dead five years and a 
week; John Wilson was sixty-four; Charles Chauncy, sixty; 
Richard Mather, fifty-six; John Davenport, fifty-five; John 
Eliot, forty-eight; John Norton, forty-six; and Increase 
Mather, a lad of thirteen, had been already a year in Harvard 
College. It is this John Wise whom we are now to consider. 

We are left to absolute conjecture, founded upon the simple 

*Savage Gen. Diet, i : 21. 

fRepprt of Boston Record Commission, 1S81. 76. JSavage. IV : 614. 
§N. E. Hist, and Gen. Reg. 11 : 104. || Savage IV: 614. 
** Report Rec. Com. 1881 : 116, 117. 118, 119, 121, i2J, 123, 124, 125, 
126, 135. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 115 

abstract probabilities of the case, for all idea of his childhood 
and youth. "The child is father of the man," and therefore 
the man prophesies the child ; and, as it is matter of record* 
that, in his adult years, this man "was of a majestic form, and 
of great muscular strength and activity," I entertain no doubt 
that he was a stout, sun-burned, hardy, vigorous, fun-loving 
boy ; and, as he started from the bottom round of the social 
ladder, that he worked for his living, and got his pliant mus- 
cles well-strung and stalwart, by diligent and untrivial toil. 
Whatever, in forest, field, farm-buildings or smithy, with ax, 
plow, flail, hoe or hammer, his father did; that— beyond 
question — John helped him do, growing hungrier, heavier 
and tougher, day by day. I fancy he was one of those lads, 
— some of us remember them: 

— quae que ipse niiserrinia vidi, 

et quorum pars magna fui. 

whom, in the good old days before farming was reduced to 
riding in a gig with some kind of a plowing, mowing or reap- 
ing machine in tow, it was safe to send off in advance with 
the first scythe in an overlapping series of mowers ; recog- 
nizing his abundant ability not merely to keep his own ancles 
out of the way of the swinging blades of his pursuers, but to 
lead them such a rush as to make them wiltingly willing now 
and then to cry halt, wipe their brows, make music with their 
whetstones, and pass the jug. 

We shall never know through precisely what agencies, or 
by precisely what influences, this young man awoke to the 
consciousness that he had in him stuff" of which something 
better for his generation even than a good farmer, or a cunning 
workman, might be made. I imagine that he caught from 
the seraphic zeal of the good apostle to the Algonkins some 
kindling of desire to make others happier and better, and that 
that keen mind whose holy business it was to watch for signs 
of the progress of the Gospel in so many savage breasts, 

*Sprague's Annals, i : 1S9. 



ii6 Congrcgatio7ial ChurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

failed not to discern, and to stimulate, the besinnincrs of a 
higher life in the mind of a young parishioner so full of 
promise. 

The "Free Schoole in Roxburie" — still in vigorous life, and 
at which my own son was fitted for Yale — had already been 
in existence near seven years when John Wise was born.* 
On the 22 N0V.-2 Dec. after his birth, "f "convenient benches 
with formes with tables, for the scholars to sit on and to write 
at, with a convenient seat for the school master, and a deske 
to put the Dictionary on, and shelves to lay up bookes," had 
been duly provided for it. Doubtless our lad got his begin- 
nings at home. But that, when qualified to do so, he became 
at least an occasional occupant of one of these "convenient 
seats," is rendered almost certain by an ancient document in 
admirable chirography bearing date 25 Feb.-6Mar., 1668-69:}:, 
in which it is agreed between the six feoffees and John Prudden 
that — for the sum of £2^ a year, to be paid " three quarters 
in Indian Corn, or Peas, and ye other fourth-parte in Barley, 
all good and merchandable" — said Prudden shall keep the 
school, and "use his best skill & endeavor, both by precept 
& example, to instruct in all scholasticall, morall, & theologi- 
call discipline, the children (soe far as they are, or shall be, 
capable)," of fifty-eight persons, "whose names are there- 
under written — all ABC darians excepted." On the list of 
these fifty-eight parents appears the name of John's father, 
"Joseph Wise." 

From Thomas Mighill,§ the last previous incumbent — born 
at Rowley, who had graduated at Harvard College in 1663, 
and was subsequently pastor at Milton, and South Scituate ; — 
and John Prudden|| — son of Rev. Peter of Milford, Conn., 
who had graduated at Harvard in 1668, and afterward preached 
at Jamaica, L.I., Rye, Conn., and Newark, N.J., then relapsing 

*Dillawaj's Hist. Rox. Gram. School, etc. p. 7. 

tibid. p. 26. 

J Ibid, frontispiece. 

§ Sibley's H;ir. Graduates, ii : 144 ||Thid ii : J58. 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 117 

into school-teaching once more, and sending out several emi- 
nent pupils — it is probable that the lad obtained his real 
training for his college course ; which was, most likely, largely 
accomplished by what sporting men would call a spurt of 
eighteen months of vigorous endeavor last preceding entrance. 
Over and beyond the common English branches, this training 
consisted* in the acquirement of a sufficient knowledge of 
Latin to be able to read ex tempore Tully, or some equivalent 
classic, and "to make and speak true Latin in verse and 
prose;" with a sufficient knowledge of Greek to be able to 
"decline perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs" in that 
tongue. As the course of study, which from 1640 to 1654 
had included but three years, was at the latter date lengthened 
to four,-]- and as Wise graduated in the class of 1673, he 
appears to have entered college in 1669, when he would be 
seventeen years old. 

Harvard College, then founded about thirty years, and 
which had sent out near 200 graduates, at that time had visi- 
ble existence on a spacious plain near the river, "a place very 
pleasant and accomodate, "| in a single wooden building orig- 
inally comely without, but by this time sadly out of repair; 
having in it§ "a spacious Hall — where they daily met at Com- 
mons, Lectures, &c — and a large Library with some Bookes 
to it," having also chambers for lodging and closets for study, 
and "all other roomcs of office necessary and convenient;" 
flanked on the one Hand by a modest Grammar School a 
little predating itself, taught by Master Elijah Corlett for 
nearly half a century, || and on the other by a small brick 
building then recently erected by the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel, for the encouragement and accomoda- 
tion of Algonkin students. 

* Laws, etc., Qiiincy's Mist. Har. Un. i : 515. 

fThe Harvard Book i : 33. 

JN. Eng. F^irst Fruits. 12, Sibley's Har. Grail, i : 7. 

§Ibid. 

llPai^fc's Hist. Canihridye. p. 366. 



Ii8 Congregational CJnirch and Parish, Essex. 

There would be from twenty-five to thirty undergraduate 
scholars, with perhaps one third as many more who had taken 
their first degree and continued in residence, pursuing further 
study with a view to the second degree and a profession. 
Such were called "Sir" Smith, "Sir" Brown* — and so on — until 
they became Masters of Arts. The President was the only 
real officer. There were no professors. f Some of the "Sirs" 
acted as tutors; for which they received the munificent sum 
of £4. a year.:]: As the College was then a public institution 
it was subjected to the distinctions which pervaded the State, 
and soon after admission the members of the Freshman Class 
were "placed" according to the social rank of their families, 
and thenceforth at the table, at worship, in recitation and 
everywhere, were required to conform to the order fixed. 
The best rooms, and best seats, and even the first helpings 
at the table, thus belonged to the sons of the "first families ;" 
so that we may be sure that John Wise was frequently and 
eff'ectually reminded that his father was a nobody; and, very 
likely, that flame of his democracy which forty years later 
burst into a scorching and consuming blaze, began here, and 
now, to kindle and smolder. Furthermore there were sharp 
distinctions of rank between classes, as well ; the lower being 
the fag and drudge of the upper, not merely, but the Fresh- 
man being obliged to take ofi" his hat not only to the President 
and Tutors, but also if one of the upper classes happened to 
come into the College yard. In either case said Freshman 
was obliged to remain uncovered until the more respectable 
party entered the building and disappeared from view.§ Nor 
was discipline by any means an empty word. No student 
without special parental permission founded upon a physi- 
cian's certificate — and "then in a sober and private manner" — 
could use tobacco ; II nor could he "buy, sell, or exchange 

* Sibley, i : 17. 

tHarv'd. Book, i : 30. J Ibid. § Ibid. 28. 

llBy J. Banker's account of his visit in 16S0, there had been much back- 
sliding as to this. Mem. Long Isld. Hist. Soc. i : 3S4. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 119 

anything to the vakie of six-pence, without the allowance of 
his parents, guardians, or Tutors;" nor frequent the company 
of men of "ungirt and dissolute life;" while, if under age 
\iiisi adnltiis^ after twice admonition, any who perversely or 
negligently transgressed any law of God, or of the college, 
became liable to a whipping in the Hall openly — the culprit 
kneeling down, and the President opening and closing the 
"exercise" with prayer.* In a smaller and quiet way, the 
Tutors thrashed the boys at discretion. f Plum cake, for some 
reason which does not appear, was especially disreputable, 
and a few years later its use imperiled one's degree. | Fines 
abounded and money was scarce. College bills were apt to 
be paid in farm-products, garden "sauce," and merchandise. 

I regret to say that in September of his Senior Year, our 
friend was caught in a scrape which proved that College 
human nature was at that time much as it has usually aver- 
aged. Edward Pelham — the most "respectable" man in his 
class, — it seems, had humbugged a young son of Urian Oakes 
into shooting a turkey belonging to some neighbor, which, 
turkey, being surreptitiously cooked by one Sam Gibson, was 
eaten on the night following by the said Pelham, Johti ITise, 
and one Jonathan Russell, then a Sophomore. § The inn- 
keeper Gibson — although he and his wife insisted they had 
no idea that the turkey was stolen — was admonished and fined 
forty shillings, and committed until it was paid. What was 
done to the offending students is not so clear from the record, 
as — what was done with the turkey ! 

It was distinctly avowed |1 "that Christ lay in the bottome, 
as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning;" 
and secret prayer, and reading scripture twice daily, were 

*Laws. etc. Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ. i : 516; S. Sewall's Dian'. 5 Mass. 
Hist. Coll. v: 4. 
t Qiiincj. i : 1S9. 
J Harvard Book, i : 40. 

§ Sibley, ii : 416. 

II Rules, etc., Siblev, i: 11, 12. 



I20 Co7igrcgational Church and Parish, Essex. 

especially enjoined. Profaneness and neglect of worship 
were forbidden, and diligence in every duty demanded. At 
seven o'clock in the morning and at five o'clock in the after- 
noon, each student was required to attend prayers in his 
Tutor's chamber, and to give report of his own private read- 
ing of the Word. 

Scholarship was clearly as much better than now in some 
respects, as it was worse in others. No English was allowed 
to be spoken on anyoccasion* — the sole exception being now 
and then a public declamation in the vernacular. No scholar 
could get his first degree who was not able, at sight, to trans- 
late the sacred Hebrew and Greek — flavored with Chaldee 
and Syriacf — into Latin, and "resolve them logically." And 
none could get his second, who did not satisfy the Overseers 
of his due proficiency also in Logic, Natural and Moral Phi- 
losophy, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, History, Botany 
and Rhetoric! 

Wise happened upon Cambridge in changeful times. The 
venerable Chauncy was President when he entered, but died 
in his Junior year ; so that he graduated during the obscurely 
sad and brief term of Leonard Hoar, and took his second 
degree under the acting presidency of Urian Oakes. Joseph 
Browne, who died at 32 just as he was to be settled over the 
Charlestown Church, John Richardson who afterward spent 
one-and-twenty years as teacher of the Church in Newbury ; 
and possibly Daniel Gookin, who expended years of labor upon 
the Indians near Sherborne, were his Tutors. § There were 
but four members of his class, viz. : Edward Pelham, George 
Alcock, Samuel Angier, and John Wise. Though a common, 
it was not the universal custom with these "Sir" Knights of 
learning who had just become Bachelors of Arts, and were 
looking forward to a second degree from the College, to 

* Laws, etc., Qiiincy, i: 517. 
tibid. (iS). : Ibid. (19), and i: 191. 
§ Sibley, i : 207, 210, 2'j'j. 



Tiiw HundredtJi Atinivcrsary. 121 

remain in residence, and pursue three further years of study- 
in Cambridge. And — possibly because he was twenty-one, 
possibly because he was poor, possibly because he had com- 
mon sense enough to know that Jie could do better elsewhere, 
and still more possibly because he was full-grown, handsome, 
liked people in general and was well-liked of them — John 
Wise chose other places for these years. As to what path 
precisely, and what inducements, he followed, we lack evi- 
dence ; but in a few months we hear of him as preaching and 
living so well in Bradford, Conn, that they wanted him to 
settle against his will. Certain it is that when Philip's War 
was raging, in 1675, he was there, for it is on the Connecticut 
Records* that, 14-24 Jan. 1675-6, the Council of that Colony 
"appoynted Mr. Wise of Bradford, to goe forthe minister to 
our army, and accordingly wrote a letter to him to prepare 
and goe forthe with the sea-side forces to New London, there 
to meet with Major Treate, &c;" and we further find from a 
letter of Major Palmes, f dated at New London twelve days 
later, that our young friend accepted that chaplaincy, and 
had then just marched with the troops into the Narragansett 
country. We next hear of him as back at Cambridge at 
Commencement, 5—15 July, of that same year, where he de- 
livered one of the two Master's Orations, affirmatively dis- 
cussing the thesis: Ati iiiipossibilc sit muiiduui fiiissc ab 
aetcrno? 

About this time a minister was wanted at Hatfield, where 
Rev. Hope Atherton of the class of 1665 at Cambridge had 
been settled ih 1671, but was now demented and dying in 
consequence of exposure and being lost in the woods in the. 
Indian war;:}: and Wise took his place and preached there 
some two years after his death, but was unwilling to settle, 
and came back to Roxbury, where — I do not say this was 

*Col. Rec. of Conn. 1675-1677. 399. 
flbid. 40J. 
JSibley. ii : 194. 

Ill 



Congngatical Church and Parish, Essex. 

u . c ,c Dec 1678, he married Abigail 
why he came back — 5-15 uec. lu/ , 

Gardner.* . hrini?s him hither, 

n,,,. nevt bit of news concernmg hmi brings mi 
Our next b,t 01 Massachusetts, so long ago as 

Although we had "° l^^/;'; ^„,„y, ,„ived at a Governor 
in the latter quarter of the '7*'^"'™/' , ^„„t on Fast 

who directed the t"^-"^^,!';?::;^ C^^ whth made it a 

2;;;?c::rr::;™:-::- -- secure pastors 

"t'trofre'lT^o'TouTwell-instructed ears the story of 
.jre;eroT:dearorwhichpro«dnee^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

e.Jebf;f":o:prnyXt:erpre;;nredlthe^Committ. 
of the Court "Mr John Wise, as a person upon whom they 
If unanimously agreed upon for the.r "^"^'^"'J 

T1,P Committee liked him, and the CourtJ did allow « 

' f he ,e vice here of your distinguished first pastor. I may 
only ; la e at it. as, in three departments it ™agn, cent y 
Istrttes the best qualities of the New ^^^^^^f^ 
past age, while, at thesamemne^mj;^^ 

* Savage, iv : 614. 

tMass. Col. Rec. v: 2S5. tib.d. 286. ^g^g 

§ History of the Town of Essex, etc., by Re^ . R- Crowe 



Two Hu n dredth A ;/ n iversa ry. 123 

real greatness of the man himself. I refer particularly to the 
relation of the old-time pastor among us — always nearly the 
best-educated man, often almost the only well educated man, 
in town ; the man of broad discretion, far sight and large 
hope, as well as profound religious faith — to civil and social, 
as well as ecclesiastical affairs. 

It was inevitable that, in their civil matters, the masses of 
the people in their first century here should look very much 
toward the ministers for guidance as to public affairs. It was 
on all hands conceded that religious considerations largely 
led to the emigration ; what, therefore, so natural as that the 
ministers of religion should be looked to to water the young 
tree in its new soil. It was very far from priest-craft, or even 
assumption, or ambition, in the clergy which led to their be- 
ing largely consulted in the Massachusetts Colony in its earlier 
days by the magistrates. Not only were the pastors of these 
flocks in the wilderness, by the high range of their studies 
presumed to be more familiar than other men with political 
ethics and the science of jurisprudence, but the fact that they 
were experts in self-government in the church, suggested that 
they might easily contribute valuable aid toward those Colo- 
nial transactions which from the beginning were largely 
marked by self-government in the State. Moreover the in- 
fluence which came westward over the sea during the times 
of the Commonwealth at home, could not fail on the one 
hand to set the people to asking, and on the other to prompt 
their spiritual teachers toward contributing, counsel — and 
sometimes something more — to the affairs of the town, and 
the Colony. And when unexpected, and sometimes start- 
ling, problems suddenly demanded decision, it was of all 
things most natural that the freemen should look toward the 
Elders for suggestion. 

Mr. Wise was always ready to accept his full measure of 
responsibility and toil for the State. His brief service with 
the troops from Connecticut in Philip's war was followed by 



124 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

a much more responsible and important service of the hke 
description, when, in 1690, the Legislature of Massachusetts 
sent him as chaplain to that ill-judged, ill-planned, ill-managed, 
ill-fated and in-glorious expedition of Sir. William Phips for 
the conquest of Canada. Mr. Wise seems, indeed to have 
been about the only man who brought home any increase of 
renown ; but it is clear that beyond the pious discharge of 
the special duties of his sacred office, he greatly distinguished 
himself by "his Heroick Spirit, and Martial Skill and Wis- 
dom," and it is certain that more than forty years after the 
event, and more than ten years after he himself was dead, 
his family received from the State substantial proof of the 
honor in which his memory was held in consequence.* 

Much more of moral, and perhaps quite as much of physi- 
cal, courage was however demanded by the action which, in 
1687, he took in resistance to what he believed to be civil 
tyranny. The exasperating — yet possibly over-hated — Sir 
Edmund Andros had been for more than two years Governor 
of a New England consolidated from the separate Colonies, 
by what the colonists felt to be the unwarrantable abrogation 
of the Charters, under which for almost two generations 
they had lived in peace and prosperity, and upon whose va- 
lidity not only their public legislation, but all their private 
property titles, depended. If the new measures were sus- 
tained, it was literally true that there was not an acre of land 
between the Penobscot and the Hudson, which — however 
guarded by legal papers — had not thus reverted to King James 
the Second ; and which, with all its belongings, could not be 
sold or given away — in the face of those who had bought, 
paid, sweat and bled for it — ^to whomsoever he liked. There 
was a new flag and a new seal, and new ways altogether. 
Andros seemed to our fathers of that day to be purely a 
despot; and this new New England simply his despotism. 
As to taxation he was empowered — with the assent of his 

*Sibley, ii : 432. 



Tzvo HiindredtJi Anniversary. 125 

compliant Council — to impose such taxes as he pleased, and 
send them down to the towns to be by them assessed, collected 
and paid. It became his pleasure thus to impose a tax of a 
penny on the pound — say $4.00 on the thousand. A little 
after the middle of August 1687 an order came to this town, 
that such a tax be levied and collected here. 

William Hubbard — the well-known historian — was pastor 
of the First Church, and lacked but little of his three-score 
years and ten. Perhaps for this reason ; perhaps on account 
of his "singular Modesty;"* possibly because of some occult 
personal tie indicated by the fact that Andros selected him 
to preside at the next Commencement of Harvard College — 
where he had the taste, in his oration, to compare Sir William 
to Jason fetching the Golden Fleece ;t — we do not hear of 
him as taking an active part in the commotion which followed. 
But we do hear of John Wise — then five-and-thirty ; at which 
age a self-poised man is apt to think reasonably well of him- 
self, and an active, effervescent man to feel equal to almost 
any contract social or civil. Mr. Wise, with two of his parish- 
ioners went over to Ipswich proper on Monday 22 Aug.-i 
Sept. 1687 — doubtless the thing had been talked over between 
meetings the day before — to the house of Mr. John Appleton, 
where several principal inhabitants of the town were quietly 
assembled, in what we should call a caucus. They reached 
the deliberate conclusion that "it was not the Town's duty 
any way to assist that ill method of raising money, without a 
General Assembly, which was apparently intended by Sir 
Edmund and his Council."! A"cl the next day in town- 
meeting John Wise made a speech in which he said that they 
had a good God, and a good king, and would do well to trust 
in them, stand to their privileges as Englishmen, and quietly 
refuse to cooperate in a procedure which "doth infringe their 

* John Dunton, Life and Errors, etc. cited in Sibiej, i : ^8. 
tSewall. Diary. 5 Mass. Hist. Coll. v : 219. 
:J: Siblev. ii : 430. 



126 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

Liberty;"* and the town voted — without a single negative — 
against compHance with the Governor's order. 

For this, Mr. Wise, as ringleader, with five others, was 
speedily arrested and lodged in Boston jail "for contempt and 
high misdemeanour;"! was refused a habeas corpus by Chief 
Justice Dudley; was tried at Oyer and Terminer, and found 
guilty. Mr. Wise was "suspended from the Ministerial Func- 
tion" fined i^50 and costs, and required to give "a| thousand 
pound bond for the good behavior one year," while his com- 
panions were also fined and disqualified from office. 

But "the whirligig of time" was not long in bringing "in 
his revenges." Before twenty months had passed, Andros 
— anticipating the scheme of a great traitor of later date — 
was trying to escape in women's clothes from the jail on Cas- 
tle Island, § and Wise was back in Boston as one of the Ipswich 
members of the Convention which was reestablishing the old 
government; and under the new flag of William and Mary, 
sued Chief Justice Dudley for having denied him the habeas 
corpus; with the result, it is stated, of recovering damages. || 

These incidents, with what they suggest, will be further 
illustrated when we come to glance at Mr. Wise's Congrega- 
tional teachings ; which moved men more mightily toward our 
present republicanism than those of any one of his cotempo- 
raries, and can leave us in no doubt that, in this department 
of civil influence, few men — if any man — of his day excelled 
your Chebacco pastor. 

There are, moreover, good words to be spoken of him in 

the matter of a more purely social inspiration. Over and 

above all those ceaseless and countless promptings toward 

daily improvement of some .sort, which an educated leader 

of the community whom all love and respect, and whose 

great powers are matter at once of common admiration and 

*Ibid. 

t Crowell's Hist. Essex, p. 102. 

\ Siblev. ii : 432. 

§ Palfrey. Hist. N. Eng. iii : 5S3. || Crowell. 103. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 127 

enjoyment, is giving forth as unconsciously as the cHmbing 
sun is banishing the night-shadows ; Mr. Wise wrote his name 
upon the history of the last quarter of the 17th and the first 
quarter of the i8th century, in connection with some definite 
endeavors to make men happier as well as better. 

In Feb. 1696-7* there was a movement on the part of cer- 
tain residents of his vicinity to emigrate to South Carolina, 
and settle on the Ashley river, near a company already gone 
from Dorchester; and Mr. Wise placed in the hands of "Wm. 
Haskel, Sen., Purser for the Company of Subscribers for ye 
voiage," certain admirable "Instructions for Emigrants from 
Essex County, Mass, who Intend to Remove themselves and 
families into South Carolina." 

In that wave of darkness which swept over New England 
in the last decade of the 17th century, when the superstition 
which still shrouded the old country drifted across the Atlantic 
and settled down into the night of the witchcraft delusion 
over the new, John Wise was one of the very small number 
of men having sagacity enough, boldness enough, and firm- 
ness enough, in the face of whatsoever danger, to resist the 
sweeping fanaticism. Mr. Upham — who seldom went out of 
his way to compliment men of a sterner faith than his own — 
in his History of the Salem Witchcraft — f says: "Mr. Wise 
was a learned, able, and enlightened man. He had a free 
spirit, and was perhaps the only minister in the neighborhood 
or country, who was discerning enough to see the erroneous- 
ness of the proceedings from the beginning." He risked his 
own life to save, if possible, his neighbor John Procter, and 
others, from their terrible fate. And, 8-19 July 1703, we 
find him conspicuously signing an "Address" to the General 
Court, which declared :| "there is great reason to fear that 
innocent persons sufi"ered, and that God may have a contro- 
versy with the land upon that account," and earnestly begging 

* Sibley, ii : 433. 

t Salem Witchcraft, etc. ii : 304. 

: Ibid. 477. 



128' Congregational CJtnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

at least for the tardy justice involved in declaring null and 
void the attainders resting upon the heirs of those unfortunate 
victims — a prayer after more than seven years of further 
delay at last tardily granted.* 

Sometimes radicals grow conservative, if not timid, as they 
advance in life, but it evidences the genuineness of this man's 
independence of thought and action, that when he was near- 
ing his three-score years and ten, he took part in the exciting 
controversy which then raged in the churches as to singing 
by note, and wrote to Thomas Symmesf his judgement: 
"That when there were a sufficient number in a Congregation 
to carry away a Tune Roundly, it was proper to introduce 
that Tune." So when, in 1721, almost all the physicians, 
except Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, were bitterly opposing the new 
practice of inoculation for the small-pox which Cotton Mather 
was trying to introduce,:}: and the vulgar rage so flamed against 
it that the rabble tried to hang Dr. Boylston, and blow up 
Cotton Mather's house ; your Chebacco pastor took up the 
cudgels in favor of his life-long opponent and his novel doc- 
trine, and was among the first to approve, and commend to 
practice, the simple and effectual, if then startling, remedy. 

You will agree with me that all these were great features 
of humanity, and that only of a great and grand man could 
they have been true. But I seem to myself only just now to 
approach the real greatness of John Wise, as I ask you, in 
the last place, to consider his character in its relation to the 
Church Polity under which he lived. 

The first man, of whom we have certain knowledge, after 
the semi-Reformation under Henry VIII., to rediscover the 
original Congregationalism, was Robert Browne. § But — as 
all deep thinkers have — he had a philosophy of his own by 
which he explained the outward facts. As he looked at it, all 

* Siblev- ii : 433. 

fT. Svmmes. Utile Dulci. etc. 55. 

J Memorial History of Boston, etc. 537; Crovvell, 131. 

§ See as to Browne and his views, etc. Conjj;. of last 300 jears, etc. 9S-1 10. 



Tiuo HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. 129 

church power resides in Christ; yet Christ reveals His will 
to, and works in, all believers. So that the Saviour's absolute 
monarchy, reaching expression through all faithful persons 
equally as His vicegerents, becomes practically indistinguish- 
able from a pure democracy; because to outward eye there 
can be no difference between a government of the people 
exercised because each has inborn inherent right to rule, and 
one exercised because each acts as by proxy, and substitution- 
ally, as the channel of the power of another. With this central 
principle Browne held other related ones, some of which 
— particularly the constant duty of mutual criticism — proved 
wholly impracticable, and inapplicable to the unculture of 
those humble rustics whom, mainly, he gathered around him. 
Mutual criticism with them soon degenerated into scolding, 
impertinent scrutiny, crimination and recrimination, until the 
little church of poor and ignorant people, unfit for responsi- 
bilities for which they had never enjoyed needful prepara- 
tion, went to pieces in Middelberg, in confusion and anarchy. 

The next Apostle of early modern Congregationalism, 
Henry Barrowe, seems to have accepted Browne's system in 
the main, but sought to avoid what had proved fatal to the 
church in Zeland, by arranging that the management be in 
the hands of the few wisest and best members ; concerning 
whom the mass of the church should have the two liberties: 
( I ) to elect; (2) ever after to obey them. This, of cours'e, 
was Presbyterio-Congregationalism ; Presbyterian in its Elder- 
ship, Congregational in its local church and the right and 
duty of that church to manage its own affairs without control 
from without. This scheme was Barrowism in distinction from 
Brownism. The Amsterdam and Leyden Separatists were 
Barrowists, although John Robinson, by having but a single 
Ruling Elder, and by using large conference with the mem- 
bership always before action, steered his ship much nearer 
the Congregational, than the Presbyterian side of the channel. 

New England Congregationalism began as Barrowism. The 



130 Congregational ChurcJi and ParisJi, Essex. 

Presbyterians had almost no fault to find with it, and expressly- 
declared it "well sound,"* had it but "given a little more 
power to Synods." It was essentially Genevan in its College 
of Elders, (of which the Pastor was chief) inside the local 
congregation ; essentially Brownistic outside of it. And no 
one then regarded Democracy as a good, or even tolerable, 
thing in church or state. 

Time passed. Practice began to develop the fact that the 
essentials of an irrepressible conflict were inborn and inbred 
in this hybrid system. It was impossible to explain and en- 
force the right of every church-member to share in the gov- 
ernment of the body, without demonstrating the absurdity of 
the claim that all church-members must submit to be governed 
by the Elders ; and, on the other hand, it was even more im- 
possible to establish the right of the Elders, at least to nega- 
tive every church act, without emptying the claim of the 
people to rule, of all possible value. As it proved, more- 
over, very difficult to obtain in each of the little scattered 
churches of those days five or six men having sense and cul- 
ture enough to discharge acceptably the duties of Ruling 
Elders ; that office — as to which, to tell the truth, the regnant 
good sense of New England was never hearty — fell into dis- 
use. This left the Pastor sole representative of the Eldership, 
and crowned him singly with the right, if not to govern the 
church, at least to prevent it from governing itself, by nega- 
tiving every church act which he might not approve. 

The Half-way Covenant, with its influx of semi-members, 
and their diluting effect upon the average both of Orthodoxy 
of faith and spirituality of life, had at length reduced the 
churches to a condition of alarming depression. Some laid 
the blame upon the fact that Councils could only advise, and 
never command or control. Others thought the difficulty 
was in the well-nigh complete disuse of Ruling Elders. And, 
in 1709, Increase Mather lifted up his voice in anguish to 

* Rutherford, Ratio, etc. 7. 



Two HimdredtJi Anniversary. 131 

warn all parties:* "if this begun Apostasy should proceed 
as fast the next thirty years as it has done these last, surely 
it will come to that in New England (except the Gospel it 
self depart with the Order of it) that the most Conscientious 
People therein, will think themselves concerned to gather 
Churches out of Churches." 

But what was to be done? He, and others like him, who 
were sagacious in their way, had their answer. And, in 1705, 
the Boston Association of ministers adopted and sent forth 
"Certain Proposals," in their judgment eminently adapted 
to heal the hurt of the daughter of God's people, by going 
back into the Egypt of "strong" governments" for help. 
A system of Associations of ministers was to have charge of 
all Church affairs. There were to be Standing Councils 
to determine all doubtful matters. No Minister uncom- 
mended by such an Association was to enter a vacant pulpit. 
And so on.f 

This scheme included some good points. But, in the main, 
it was founded on the false and foolish notion that an atten- 
uated, decrepid and moribund Congregationalism could be 
reanimated, and rejuvenated, by a heroic dose of Presbyteri- 
anism. 

It was in the Autumn of 1705 that this Pamphlet of Pro- 
posals made its way to Chebacco. John Wise read it and 
laughed at it. And for three or four years he anticipated 
concerning it that policy which Cotton Mather twenty years 
later boasted that he had exercised with regard to Mr. Wise's 
own book, namely that of "generoso silentio, et pio con- 
temptu."! But when, in 1708, the Connecticut Colony con- 
voked the Saybrook Synod, and followed its lead into Con- 
sociationism as the established religion, Chebacco was stirred. 
The impossible seemed in danger of happening, and lest the 

* Order of the Gospel, etc. ii. 

fSee Proposals etc., as reprinted by J. Wise, in his Churches Qiiarrel 
espoused. 

+ Ratio Dis. etc. 185. 



132 Congregational CJiiircJi and Parish, Essex. 

churches of the Bay be seduced into a Hke infidelity to their 
own first principles, John Wise took up his pen, and put his 
laugh and the philosophy of it into a dense, learned, logical 
and tremendously caustic i6mo. pamphlet of one hundred and 
fifty pages, which was printed in 1710. He pitched in to the 
"Proposals" without pity, and — in a style unique for those 
days, at once of singular directness, force, and brilliancy — 
he showed that the proposition really made was that the 
churches surrender their God-given rights for the sake of a 
new polity, which seemed to be "a Conjunction of almost all 
the Church Governments in the World, & the least part -is 
Congregational.* Indeed at the first cast of the Eye, the 
scheme seems to be the Spectre or Ghost of Presbyterianism, 
or the Government of the Church by Classes ; yet if I don't 
mistake, in Intention there is something considerable of Pre- 
lacy in it . . . . something which smells very strong 
of the Infallible chair." .... so| strong of the Pope's 
Cooks and kitchen, where his Broths and Restoratives are 
prepared, that they are enough to strangle a Free-born 
Englishman, and much more those Churches, that have lived 
in such a clear Air, and under such enlargements so long a 
time." Lest any should think he was disproportioning the 
severity of his attack to the size of the enemy, he said : % 
"though it be but a Calf now, yet in time it may grow (being 
of a thirsty Nature) to become a sturdy Ox, that will know 
no Whoa, and it may be past the Churches skill then to sub- 
due it." Perhaps the most scorching passage is one of his 
closing paragraphs in which referring to the anonymous 
character of the pamphlet — which, in deference to the taste 
of the time, merely announced itself as done by an Associa- 
tion "at B " 5 November 1705 — he said: "where the 

Place was, or the Persons who were present in this Randez- 
vouze, shall never be told by me, unless it be Extorted by the 

* Churches Qiiarrels Espoused, etc. p. 38! 
t Ibid. 108. J Ibid. Si. 



Two Himdredth Anniversary. 133 

Rack. And tho' I have endeavored with freedom of Argu- 
ment to subvert the Error, I will never stain their Personal 
Glory, by repeating or calling over the Muster Roll. There- 
fore, as Noah's Sons cast a Garment upon their Fathers 
Nakedness, so (leaving them in the Crowd) their Names (for 
me) shall repose under a Mantle of honourable pity and for- 
getfulness."* 

Seven years later, when Mr. Wise was sixty-five, he pub- 
lished a formal treatise — this time a i6mo. of only 105 pages 
— entitled a Vijidication of the Government of New England 
Churches. He took the ground that democracy must be the 
best government for the Church, because it is the best govern- 
for the State. At a day when the idea was novel and unpop- 
ular, he avowed his conviction that the only rule thoroughly 
suited to man's nature, is one founded on the fundamental 
principle of human equality of rights. He was the first logi- 
cal and clear-headed American democrat. Half a century 
before Thomas Jefferson, with irresistible logic and almost 
unmatched magnificence of style, he laid down the everlasting 
principles of democracy for both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. 
He did this so well that when more than half a century after, 
in 1772, the great work of the American revolution was in 
hand, two successive reprints in a single twelvemonth of his 
arguments demonstrated of how much value his writings 
seemed to those patriots who were seeking to achieve our 
national independence, and establish upon a firm basis in the 
convictions of intelligent men, our government — of the people, 
by the people, and for the people. Prof. Moses Coit Tyler 
in his History of American Literature cites from Mr. Wise 
this passage if "The End of all good Government is to Cul- 
tivate Humanity and promote the Happiness of all, and the 
good of every Man in all his Rights, his Life, Liberty, Estate, 
Honour, etc., without injury or abuse done to any;" and 
says:$ "No wonder that the writer of that sentence was 

*Ibid. 115. t Vindication, etc., 6f. J Hist. Amer. Lit. ii : n6. 



134 Congregational ChurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

called up from his grave, by the men who were getting ready 
for the Declaration of Independence !" And I may quote 
here the same brilliant historian's general tribute to him 
whom we commemorate. He says:* "upon the whole, no 
other American author of the Colonial time is the equal of 
John Wise in the union of great breadth and power of thought 
with great splendor of style ; and he stands almost alone 
among our early writers for the blending of a racy and dainty 
humor with impassioned earnestness." 

That these two tremendous pamphlets left their mark upon 
our Congregationalism, need not be told in detail. They 
were surcharged with the electricity of original and energetic 
thought to that degree that some who were hit, felt almost as 
if their author had "shot out lightnings to discomfit them." 
And as thunder and lightening purify the air, these two little 
bolts clarified our whole atmosphere. The pregnant good 
sense which was in them not only prepared the way, but led 
the march, by which what was bad of Barrowism was left 
behind, and what was good of Brownism was recovered, until 
the reasonable and justly balanced self-government of that 
polity under which we now live, was perfected. So that to 
him who asks for some monument which shall illustrate and 
demonstrate the ecclesiastical influence of this man upon his 
own time, and upon all times — pointing to four thousand 
sensibly democratic Congregational Churches between the 
Aroostook and the Golden Gate, we may say of John Wise 
in those fit words which Mylne, architect of Blackfriars, in- 
scribed over the entrance of the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral 
in London, to the memory of Christopher Wren, its builder: 
''Si monnmentnni requiris, cir-cnmspicer 

I wrote the other day to my friend Hon. J. Hammond 
Trumbull — the greatest, and (I may say) only, living author- 
ity upon the Algonkin tongue — asking for the exact sense of 
this word Chcbacco. I could not help noting a singular appro- 

* Ibid. 114. 



Tzvo Hundredth Anniversary. 135 

priateness revealed by his reply. He says he regards it as 
meaning, literally, "the greatest pond, or principal source, of 
some stream." Was it not a fit thing that your first CJicbacco 
pastor should be the principal source of the great river of that 
democratic polity which now gladdens so largely our land? 

It is one hundred and fifty-eight years four months and 
three days, since, on Thursday, 8-19 April 1725, in his own 
house, on the spot where the mansion of the late Mr. John 
Mears now stands, John Wise — who had reached the ripe age 
of two-and-seventy years, seven months, and twenty-three 
days — lay a dying. To John White, of Gloucester, he had 
said in the beginning of his sickness:* "I have been a man 
of contention, but the state of the churches made it neces- 
sary. Upon the most serious review I can say / Jiave f ought 
a good Fight: and I have comfort in reflecting upon the same : 
I am conscious to myself that I have acted sincerely." Happy, 
my brethren, will it be for you, and for me — since we too 
have fallen upon times that sometimes are troublous — if we 
may approach our last hours with a like humble conviction ! 

And now, when his time is fully come, he expresses his 
deep sense of nothingness and unworthiness, and of his need 
of the Divine compassion, and with his last breath invokes 
upon himself, his widow and seven children, and his beloved 
church and people to the latest generation, the dear grace of 
God in Christ. 

Then the pale and attenuated, but still majestic, form rests. 
The sweet light that beamed in winsome gentleness, or flashed 
in kindly, if withering, sarcasm, or frowned in deserved rebuke, 
from under the eye-brows, is eclipsed forever. And the voice 
that for almost two-and-forty years had led as well as taught 
in all good ways, and cheered as well as chid this people 
toward all good works, is, heard no more at all. 

With a kind of sacred awe — as if there were presumption 
in it — they prepare the body for its last repose, and lay it in 

* J. White : The Gospel Treasure in Earthen Vessels, etc., 41. 



136 Congregational CJiiircli and Parish, Essex. 

the best room. Through the open windows come in the 
twitterings of the early spring birds praising God in the bud- 
ding branches ; and the sod which they Hft as they dig his 
grave — larger and longer than is their wont — is green with 
returning life, and has in it the sweet prophecy of reviving 
after the winter of death, breathed by the faint odor of a few 
first violets. 

On Sunday* a congregation from far and near crowds the 
meeting-house — the new meeting-house, which never re- 
sounded with his most imperial eloquence, but in which the 
last seven years of his ripest ministry had been exercised — 
and John White preaches his funeral sermon, declining to 
attempt properly to characterize the dead, for, said he:f "he 
who would do it to the life, must have his eloquence." 

The next day he was "decently Buried amidst the Honors 
& Lamentations of his Distressed Friends, and of his Loving 
and Generous Flock, and at their Expense,"! ^"^ that he 
might sleep surrounded by those to whom his life had been 
given, his grave was ordered to be near the center of the 
burial-ground. And as they took their last look of his face 
and stalwart form how many of the old men turned away 
with moist eyes to say to each other in Shakespeare's thought 

— though not, consciously to themselves, in Shakespeare's 

words : 

He was a man, take him for all in all. 
We shall not look upon his like again. 

And if the Spring sun shone warm and pleasant, no doubt 
many of them lingered a while, and sat down in little groups 
to chat pleasant things of the dead. One tells again the 
story § of the strong man of -Andover — as yet unwhipt of all 

— who took the trouble to ride over to Chebacco to try his 
muscles upon the parson ; and how the good-humored parson, 
nothing loath, consented to the trial, and concluded a vic- 

* Gospel Treasure, etc. preached 11 Apr. etc. Title page. 

t Ibid. 44. % Siblej ii : 43S. 

§ Felt. Hist. Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton, p. J59. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 137 

torious wrestling bout by gently flirting his overgrown antag- 
onist over the fence into the street ; and how the astonished 
stranger accepted the situation in the mild suggestion that if 
Mr. Wise would kindly toss his horse over after him, he would 
depart satisfied and in peace ! And another says : "Well the 
parson could wrestle in prayer, too," and goes on to recall 
how, some years before, a pirate cruiser on the coast had 
kidnapped a boat's crew of Chebacco boys ; and how, in his 
next Sunday morning's supplication Mr. Wise had remem- 
bered the poor fellows, and had said : * "Great God I if there 
be no other way for their deliverance, stengthen them to 
rise and butcher their enemies;" and how, in very deed, the 
boys came back that same week safe and sound, with the 
statement, that, on Sunday, seizing, on a sudden impulse, a 
favorable opportunity, they had sprung upon their captors 
and taken the vessel. ^ 

They all well agree that he was great, and that he was good 
— the best kind of good: singularly gentle for so strong a 
man. 

Here, my friends, I think we have essentially his character 
in his name. He was John, and he was Wise; and so he was 
John Wise ! 

Verily, with rare truth, it was chiseled on his tomb-stone: 

FOR TALENTS, PIETY AND LEARNING, HE SHONE 
AS A STAR OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE. 



^Prof. park's ^Prager. 

AT THE GRAVE OF REV. JOHN WISE. 

This prayer was taken down in full by the Stenegrapher of the Congregationalist and 
l)rinted in that paper, Aug. .'50, 188,'?. 

O Lord, our God, Thou art our God, and Thou wert the God of our 
fathers. We thank Thee for all of which we have now been reminded of 



*Ibid. 
18 



138 Congregational ChurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

Thy doings among the fathers of this parish and this town. We thank 
Thee for the great men whom Thou hast here raised up for the promotion 
of Thy cause throughout our land. We thank Thee for the good men 
who have served Thee faithfully in the world, and then have been gathered 
into this place; this garden of the Lord. 

We thank Thee that we are allowed to stand near the venerable dust of 
him who has been laid in this spot. We thank Thee for all which we have 
heard this day of his great works, and his humble spirit. We praise and 
bless Thy name, O Lord, that Thou didst endue him with an excellent 
understanding, and a capacious memory, and a brilliant imagination ; that 
Thou didst see fit to give unto him stores of learning and wealth of knowl- 
edge far beyond the time in which he lived ; that Thou didst see fit to give 
him a clear insight into the nature of his fellow-men, and a clear foresight 
of that history which was to be enacted after he had gone from the earth. 
We thank Thee for all his bold thoughts, and his vigorous words; for the 
influence which he has exerted on the churches in this Commonwealth, 
and on the churches which are now springing up in remote parts of our 
land — in regions which were unknown and unnamed while he was upon 
the earth. We thank Thee that the seed which he sowed on the borders 
of this Eastern sea is springing up and bearing fruit along the shores of 
the Western sea, and throughout the length and breadth of this land — 
thirty, and sixty, and an hundred fold. We thank Thee that the principles 
which he elucidated have been laid at the basis of our national structure. 
We thank Thee that our government, in so great a degree, has been fash- 
ioned according to those wise rules which he proposed. We thank Thee 
that his influence in church and in State has been continued, even to the 
present time. We pray, O Lord, that it may be prolonged through gener- 
ations yet to come; that the light which shone from his humble dwelling 
may still continue to shine upon the churches and the States of our Union. 
Wilt Thou say unto the sun, "Go not down," and to the moon, "Depart 
not from the valley of Ajalon !" May this light be continued, and may 
more and more rejoice in it. 

We thank Thee, O God, that Thou hast revealed unto us that those who 
serve Thee faithfully shall be crowned with glory and honor and immor- 
tality; that the righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance. We 
rejoice that Thou dost remember Thy covenant with Abraham, and dost 
bless the children, and children's children, even unto remote generations 
of them that serve Thee and keep Thy commandments. Wilt Thou grant 
that all who have listened to the words spoken this day may receive some 
new impulse to duty. Particularly may all the members of this parish and 
this church — calling to mind that here has been the fountain from which 
have issued streams that have made glad this land, and that Thou hast dis- 
tinguished them, O Lord, above so many of their fellowmen — all feel their 
obligation to live a new life, devoted unto the God of Abraham and of Isaac 
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, who led our fathers through the wil- 
derness, and brought them out into a safe place; and grant, O Lord, that 



Two Hundrcdtli Anniversary. 139 

we who are now assembled may learn some new lesson of Thy providence 
here, as we stand in this garden, where so many fathers and mothers have 
wept for their children, because their children were not; where so many 
brothers and sisters have come with tears and gone out with sobs, because 
they should see the face of their loved ones no more. We thank Thee 
that we are permitted to stand on this ground, where so many prayers 
have been offered by godly men and godly women who have visited this 
venerable grave; and, O Lord, we pray Thee that the prayers which have 
been offered in this home of the dead may be answered even now, and may 
richest blessings come down upon us, because Thy weeping and wailing 
children have looked up to Thee from this place, and supplicated Thy bles- 
sing. Mav we form such resolutions as we should form if the dead in 
ChHst sho'uld rise and now admonish us of our duty; such resolutions as 
we should form if the blessed departed ones should come down and encir- 
cle us as a great cloud of witnesses, beckoning us onward to a higher life 
and a nobler duty. 

Oh grant that we mav feel at this time our own nothingness, and our 
dependence on Jesus Clirist. May we feel the infinite disparity there is 
between Thee and us. Thine is the sea, for Thou didst make it. The 
strength of the hills is Thine also, and of old didst Thou lay the founda- 
tions^of the earth ; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They 
shall perish, but Thou remainest; they shall all wax old as doth a garment, 
and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but 
Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail. We are like the flower 
that in the morning flourisheth, and in the evening is cut down and with- 
ereth. Let us remember how frail we are. Our fathers, where are they? 
— and the prophets, do they live forever.? We are strangers and sojouners 
before Thee, as were all our fathers. But we would walk as they walked, 
near unto God; and as Thy servant, around whose grave we stand, looked 
unto Jesus as the author and finisher of his faith, so may we all be pre- 
pared to die as he died, with reliance on Him who shed His blood for us; 
and grant, O Lord, at the great day when the trumpet shall sound and the 
dead shall be raised, that we may rise to immortal life; that this corrupti- 
ble may put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality ; and that 
we may be forever with the Lord. And may it be declared of us, when 
we are laid to rest, as of the venerable father near whose remains we stand, 
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth ; yea, saith 
the Spirit, that thev may rest from their labors, and their works do follow 
them." And may'each of us be able to say at the last. "I have fought a 
good fight ; I have" finished my course. I have kept the faith." And through 
the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, shall be rendered unto Thee, Father 
and Son and Spirit, praise and glory and honor, world without end, Amen. 



Gl^EETING 

PI^OM JPHB MOTHEI^ GHUI^GH 

BY KEY. E. B. PALMER, OF IPSWICH. 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 

Beloved Children, Fathers and Mothers : 

If I speak to you with somewhat of deliberateness you will 
bear me witness that, after the story of this morning, it be- 
comes any representative of the First Parish Church of 
Ipswich to be a little careful in his utterance. I have my 
notes in my hand as you see, but I find myself in sympathy 
with a public speaker of whom I once heard who "wanted to 
make a few remarks, before, he began to speak." 

In answer to the question jocosely put to your pastor as 
to what he wanted me to say on this occasion, I received the 
kindly suggestion, that I might say "anything I pleased, if 
only it was appropriate." To speak is less difficult sometimes 
than to speak appropriately. Pope long ago said: "Fools 
rush in where angels fear to tread." And though the four- 
teenth in that succession of preachers and pastors whose 
brilliant beginning was so clearly brought to our view by the 
first speaker of the day, it may be that I am to show myself 
one of the "fools;" first, for consenting to address, ever so 
briefly, an audience already filled and delighted with the in- 
teresting and admirable historical and biographical addresses 
of the morning; and secondly, for attempting to hold the 
attention of those who have been exposed to the temptations 



142 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

of such sumptuous tables as we have just left ; and again, in 
the esteem of some, for presuming to say any thing in this 
presence in behalf of Ipswich. In my own estimate the latter 
reason is without force. It is true that I had hardly left the 
platform this morning before such salutations as these met 
me. "I wonder what you can say now for Ipswich." "I am 
glad I have not got your job on my hands." "I would not 
be in your shoes" "&c." But, friends, I am here on an errand 
of good-will from the mother church. I am not set for the 
defense of "Brother Hubbard" or any other man. I can 
share fully in the joy of this hour, for every honorable word 
that can justly be spoken of this ancient church, reflects its 
glory back upon the older mother. The Child can receive 
no genuine honor or blessing in which the parent does not 
share. 

The "prodigal son" was an occasion of pain to his father 
as he went out to a life of recklessness and shame, but when 
he "came to himself" and began to live worthily and to prom- 
ise better things, there was joy in the father's heart, and good 
cheer in the home, because the "son" was restored. So the 
honor of our offspring is ours as well, and we are not dis- 
posed to forego our claim. 

Then further, you are having the Essex church anniver- 
sary to-day and the Chebacco phase of the history is promi- 
nent. Next year we hope to hold the two hundred and 
fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Ipswich church, 
and the mother side of the story may appear. 

If not many are here from the old Church, it is not because 
of any desire to avoid the record of an earlier day, for our 
earlier records are lost, said to have been burned. Whether 
in anything said here there is suggested to any a reason for 
their destruction, or not, I will not venture one, but invite you 
to the assigned duty of the moment. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 143 

ADDRESS. 

As with dim-visioned Isaac of old in the hands of a schem- 
ing wife, so there is with me to-day a conflict of the senses. 
The witness of voice and hand is not one. Almost in the 
same breath I find myself sharing in the life of two strongly 
contrasted periods. 

The force of the morning thought has been such as to take 
us back into the seventeenth century, but the order which has 
bidden us go from this spot and look upon fair fields and 
goodly dwellings on our way to the populous village of the 
dead, and has spread before us in suth profusion the viands 
and the cheer of what was modestly named in the programme 
a "collation," and which summons us now to words of con- 
gratulation rather than of reminiscence, recalls us to our 
advanced standing in the nineteenth century. And I am 
bound to recognize the higher authority of the modern fact. 
The mandate of your committee of arrangements permits me 
neither to philosophize nor dream. 

I am asked to present greetings from the Mother Church; 
and yet, cheerfully as I review the pledges of interest in, and 
high desire for, the peace, and purity, and prosperity of this 
"revolted province" of our once wide First Parish "dominion" 
— pledges given many times between the old style Aug. 12, 
1683, and the present hour, in cordial response to the sum- 
mons for counsel or sympathy or mutual labor and joy in the 
Lord — the truth is, and I may as well out with it at the start, 
that I find the maternal sense in myself exceedingly small. 
Even though a representative of the church in whose fellow- 
ship your fathers and ours knew the ministry of Ward and 
Morton and Rogers and Cobbett and Hubbard, I must hum- 
bly confess that my representative capacity does not intensify 
my maternal sensibility. 

As a pastor of eight years standing only — though in that 
time I have known personally one numerical third of your 
stated ministry for the whole two centuries of your church 



144 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish^ Essex. 

life — you will not wonder that any excess of sentiment in me 
must be forced, when you remember what changes time has 
wrought in outward conditions as well as in men. 

You will not fail to see this first, that the names our church 
records cherish in common are comparatively few. Of these 
it is a little remarkable that the name of one of your fore- 
most men, Mr. Cogswell, should have been associated with 
the last diaconate in the mother church, made vacant by 
death, a name dear in the educational and religious life of 
Ipswich and still with the old prefix, "John," at the official 
head of our Sunday School. But this is one of the few 
exceptions. 

In the second place, if there is frequent social intercourse 
between the First and Second Parishes, I do not know it. 
The old system of "Quarterly Fasts," which would not let 
the brethren and sisters of one stock forget their kinship if 
they were so inclined, are long ago things of the past. It 
was months after his coming here before I learned of the 
presence of the acting pastor of to-day, and it is only three 
days since I had first sight of his person. The more shame 
to me is it? Well, consider the third fact namely this, that 
the multiplication of churches about us in these years has 
called for such a change in the limits of our local conferences, 
that there are no annual opportunities for meeting one 
another. The same thing is true of our ministerial association. 

Then, further, the two parishes have no bnsiness interests 
in common. Ipswich as a shire town is no more, so that there 
is little to draw Chebacco to Agawam ; and what attracts 
Agawam to Chebacco, unless it be a Bi-centennial Anniver- 
sary, or a Bi-ennial Ecclesiastical Council, attracts throngh it, 
to busy Gloucester or Manchester-by-the-Sea. 

So far then as any blood concern goes, this work of mine 
is a pleasant fiction. In their practical relation to the king- 
dom of Christ on earth, the churches of Haverhill and Ipswich 
know more of each other than do we. 



Tzvo Hundredth Anniversary. 145 

We are met here to-day because two hundred years ago, 
honest men, God-fearing men, could not altogether agree ; 
because, (and I quote the words of a man of precious memory 
among you, the father of the historian of the morning,) be- 
cause "the children less sensible of the value of religious 
privileges than their fathers and mothers who thought but 
Httle of the tediousness of the way to the house of God, 
were less inclined to make so great a sacrifice to enjoy them." 

The sincere congratulations of this hour are not the nar- 
row ones of a household, but the broad ones of the great 
brotherhood in Christ, tinctured, colored, flavored, not with 
the recollection, but with the historical assurance, of this, that 
so man}' years ago our predecessors worshiped under one 
roof, paid a parish tax into the same treasury, brought their 
children to the same font for baptism, and around a common 
table received the consecrated elements from the same hands. 

If now we could transfer ourselves to that early day and 
speak to those "children" impatient not of their old fellow- 
ship, but of the "tediousness of the way," we might banter 
them a little upon their faint-heartedness. We might report 
to them the great disturbance and the consuming grief of 
the mother church that having in the persons of their fathers 
walked with us in the ways of the Lord, for fifty years, they 
could not have continued to do so the little matter of two 
hundred years or so longer. 

We might deplore the efi"ect upon themselves of substitu- 
ting for the heroic buff'eting of wind and storm, and the tread- 
ing of the uphills and the downhills, between this spot and 
the Center, the tame measuring of a few paces on foot or in 
carriage to a meeting house so "handy by" — and we might 
add to the sum of our reproach, the force of their example, 
by which those (with us ox you) who learned of their reluc- 
tance to go six miles to the Sanctuary, have strengthened 
themselves in the refusal to go as many rods, unless the con- 
ditions are as favorable, at least, for seeing and being seen, 
as for God's worship. 



146 Congregational Chnrcli and Parish, Essex. 

And yet, however sorely we might have to reproach this 
faction for the folly of sundering the maternal leading strings, 
and setting up in life on their own account, we should have 
to confess, by all the tokens this morning afforded, that the 
first step taken after the separation, in the choice of a pastor, 
was an eminently wise one, followed, as the record shows, by 
many another. And all these not exhaustive of the stock 
of wisdom native to this region, as the self-conceit of the 
moment allows me to find suggested in the name of the 
present minister here, and as I hope the event may abundantly 
a:nd happily prove. 

But, beloved, we have no such word of reproof as a de- 
liberate departure from the companionship of the trying be- 
ginnings of religious life here might, under some conditions, 
justify. We have no greater desire or joy, than that you 
"our children walk in the truth." 

If, in the later past, the feet of our membership have not 
been turned in this direction, except on special occasions, 
remember that when the daughter makes for herself a home 
away from the parental roof, it is her province to seek the 
old home, it is hers to trust that there is always mother love 
there and to draw upon it, while the mother guiding the old 
house, limits her visits to seasons of a character unusual 
because of the great joy or sorrow in them. So we have 
visited you in your affliction, and extended our felicitations 
in your joy. If, when your councils were divided, we could 
not suit you all, you must consider the weakness for a grand- 
child which not even churches, as it appears, escape; and 
you must also bear witness that your afterwards united coun- 
sels awakened gladness in the heart of my honored predeces- 
sor, "Parson Kimball," and his beloved people. They were 
here with their prayers and benedictions, when the spirit of 
God persuaded your fathers "how good and how pleasant a 
thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." It was 
said concerning the parish division here, "conclusive proof 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 147 

was afforded that there had been httle, if any, personal ahen- 
ation of feeHng between the individual members of the two 
bodies." The same might with truth have been said of the 
earlier separation in whose anniversary we now share. 

In the pursuit of my pastoral work from the edge of Ham- 
ilton on one side to the borders of Rowley on the other. I 
have not happened to fall in with any of the participants in 
those warm discussions which issued in sending delegations 
to the general Court. Nor, as Artemas Ward said of George 
Washington, do I know that I have found anybody "wearing 
their old clothes." 

Certainly I have found no person commissioned to speak 
for them in reference to the occurrences of this day. But I 
have become familiar with the foundation work they did. I 
have heard somewhat of the "manner of Spirit they were of." 
I have seen enough to assure me that if they were to-day in 
the flesh, they would, with us, rejoice in all your joy, as it is 
pleasant to think that, in another sphere, they give each other 
cordial greeting as they look back upon the follies, and the 
forbearances of . . . day before yesterday . . after- 
noon. 

In cordial fellowship with them, we, their successors in the 
occupancy and conduct of the old estate, discerning clearly 
that there is work enough for us all to do without laying the 
constraint of so much as a protect upon each other, give you 
to-day and henceforth our "God-speed." 

We congratulate you upon the large common sense resi- 
dent in the men and women of 1683, even with its admixture 
of a shrewdness, which enabled them to get their first meeting- 
house raised without subjecting themselves to the penalty of 
a disregarded injunction from the "great and general Court." 

We congratulate you upon all the work God has, through 
your fathers and their children, wrought here. 

We congratulate you upon your ministry to the broader 
world without, wrought through those who were cradled in 



148 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

your Essex church homes, consecrated at your altars, edu- 
cated in your schools, spiritually trained under your godly 
ministry, the lawyers, the doctors, the teachers, the ministers 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a goodly company, part on earth, 
part in glory. 

We congratulate you upon your present numerical strength, 
upon your acceptable ministry, upon your opportunities for 
Christian work, and the promise you hold in common with 
us all of the Master's living and helpful presence, and we 
pray that you may worthily hold the prestige God's provi- 
dence has given you, and transmit it unimpaired to the gen- 
eration which a hundred years hence shall gather as we now 
do in grateful recognition of the redeeming and sanctifying 
grace of Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. 



Gl^EETING 

PI^OM THE SISTEr^ GHUI^GHES 

REV. F. G. CLARK, GLOUCESTER. 

It seems like trespassing, Mr. President, forme to take any 
of the precious time that belongs to this pleasant family gath- 
ering. But I have noticed that when a florist gathers a boquet 
he goes outside of his green house for ferns or grasses for its 
background, and so sets off the beauty of his choice flowers 
by way of contrast. With the thought that your committee 
wanted something green or dry from the outside world to 
serve as a background for the better display of the rare and 
beautiful products of this goodly garden of Essex, I have 
been persuaded to say a few words. 

It is not too much to say that I was delighted with the 
exercises of the morning. Such addresses are wonderfully 
stimulating and instructive, not only to those personally in- 
terested, but to all that are students of history. I have long 
known that this church was founded by a Wise master builder, 
but how wise and illustrious he was I had no conception until 
his services and exploits were set before us by the Dexterous 
pen of our Nestor of Congregationalism. 

As soon as I came into this neighborhood I discovered 
that this church was regarded by the others of the conference 
with wonder and admiration because of the number of edu- 
cated men and women it has sent out from its borders, but 
after listening to the remarkably clear and discriminating 
historical address this morning, I am compelled to believe 



1 50 Congregational Chnrch and Parish, Essex. 

that this elder sister has not been half appreciated. I had 
supposed that when "the flower of Essex," was massacred at 
Bloody Brook, that the whole county met with an irretrievable 
loss, but I think I have discovered to-day that the root of 
that "flower" was planted in this church and that its vigorous 
growth since that time has not only made that great loss good, 
but has provided many distinguished men for the whole Com- 
monwealth. 

With such a history so rich and varied, so suggestive and 
helpful it is eminently appropriate that you should celebrate 
your two hundredth anniversary. I will not occupy the time 
with my personal congratulations though they are most abun- 
dant and sincere. I will not detain you with the greetings 
which my church extend to you to-day. The number who 
have come over to these exercises indicates our interest in , 
this occasion and we are free to confess that we owe to you 
as a church a debt of gratitude that we can never repay. But 
I come before you as a representative of the churches of this 
conference and bring their warmest greetings to this elder 
sister elect, precious. We are glad of this privilege of ex- 
pressing our congratulations for such an honorable record. 
It falls to the lot of many good men and women never to 
know how highly they are appreciated by their associates. 
The words of commendation due, are not spoken until their 
bodies are robed for the grave. But such a church anniver- 
sary as this, gives an opportunity for expressions of interest 
and respect on the part of those who have long recognized 
the worth of a beloved sister in the Lord. 

Your history as a church is a noble one and though you 
can not boast of a written record of a thousand years, yet it 
requires no spirit of prophecy to say sncli a record is before 
you. 

It is especially fitting at this time to extend to this elder 
sister the right hand of fellowship which has been given so 
many times by you to the younger members of this family of 



Tzvo HiindredtJi Anniversary. 15 1 

churches as they sprung into existence. We esteem it a great 
favor that we can to-day express our gratitude for your loving 
kindness and faithful efforts in our behalf The fellowship of 
the churches is the crowning glory of our denomination. It 
is not a mere sentiment about which words abundant and 
meaningless may be spoken ; it is not a vague theory beauti- 
ful in outline but of no value in practical experience ; it is 
not simply coming together in council when we meet to jnstall 
or dismiss a pastor; it is not restricted to the pleasant rela- 
tion which exists in the association of churches in conference 
or that opens the way for the exchange of neighboring pas- 
tors, but it is the spirit of mutual sympathy and cooperation 
that permeates our relation to each other and holds us with a 
power like that which keeps the planets in their course about 
the sun. While we are independent of each other in the 
matter of our creed and are free to act our own pleasure con- 
cerning the work of the individual church, yet this invisible 
bond of common interests and affection gives a feeling of re- 
sponsibility for the material and spiritual welfare of the whole 
sisterhood of churches, which is of most vital importance to 
our growth and prosperity. 

The word sister, has a most significant meaning as applied 
to our relation to each other as churches. It suggests the 
•charming picture which greets the eye in many well regulated 
homes, where the elder sister takes a motherly interest in the 
younger members of the household, and anticipates their 
wishes and liappiness at the cost of great self denial. Such 
has been the interest which the older churches have taken in 
their younger sisters. Churches that were formed fifty years 
ago and more, came into existence under peculiarly distress- 
ing circumstances. When the Evangelical Church at Glouc- 
ester was born, the Mother Church looked upon its offspring 
as one born out of due time and possessed neither ability or 
willingness to nurse it as its own. This weak and hcli)less 
infant, an orphan from birth, would have been left to the ten- 



152 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

del' mercies of a cold unfeeling world had not the sisterly im- 
pulses of the churches at Essex and Sandy Bay led them 
to take the child and nourish it for the Lord. 

Had it not been for Dr. Crowell and Rev. David Jevvett 
aided by the churches they represented, that little church at 
Gloucester Harbor could never have survived the trials of its 
earliest years. These two men were not only interested in 
the formation of the church but in securing for it the stated 
means of grace. They arranged to have the pulpit supplied 
by neighboring ministers until they could obtain a pastor to 
take up the work. They both labored faithfully to secure a 
shelter for the homeless orphan and were on the building 
committee which erected the first church edifice. The build- 
ing cost two thousand dollars of which only four hundred were 
contributed by the little band of believers, for the balance of 
the debt these two men became personally responsible until 
they secured it by repeated solicitation from the stronger 
churches of the state. 

The interest of these neighboring pastors extended to the 
spiritual growth and prosperity of the church. As soon as 
a minister was installed they united with him in holding a 
protracted meeting which brought a large addition to the 
church. When difficulties and dissensions arose they were 
ready wath their wise and faithful counsel to promote har- 
mony and unity of feeling. One instance is on record 
where they were called to advise concerning some difficulty 
with the pastor and the whole church voted by rising, 
" that the difficulties be here- dropped, and that the person 
hereafter making them matter of conversation shall be con- 
sidered as violating the peace of the church." 

But Dr. Crowell and his associates were not only interested 
in the church at Gloucester Harbor, but they did a similar 
work at Lanesville, at West Gloucester, at North Beverly, at 
Saugus and I know not how many other places. It is simply 
amazing to find how much these men did outside of their own 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 153 

special field of labor. They were large hearted, far seeing 
men, the circle of their endeavor was not bounded by the 
narrow horizon of their own parish, they took into their sym- 
pathetic hearts the spiritual wants of every needy village in 
the community about them. They were illustrious examples 
of the Christian activity to which reference was made in the 
historical address. 

It is one of the great advantages of such a celebration as 
this, that a church finds out as in no other way what has been 
done in the past worthy of imitation. It is quickened by the 
review of such devotion and moved to thank God and take 
courage. This church will be all the stronger for the next 
one hundred years for the story that has been told to-day. 
The spirit that animated the ministry fifty years ago, is needed 
in these times ; we should cultivate a wider vision and a deeper 
love for the cause of Christ. We ought to see the waste 
places about us that may be made with God's blessing to bud 
and blossom as the rose. We ought to be willing as churches 
to deny ourselves of our rights and privileges that the Gospel 
may be preached to the benighted beyond our borders. As 
our minds thrill to-day with the story of the results of the 
lives of those who have made the history of this church and 
town, let us all profit by these lessons and return to our work 
with a renewed purpose to do more and better work for 
Christ. 



I^BMINISGENGBS OF Dl^. ©P^OWELL 

BY HEY. JEREMIAH TAYLOR, D. D., OF PROYIDEHCE, H. I. 

Mr. Chairman, Fathers and Brethren : 

It seems appropriate that I should be with you on this 
interesting occasion, for several reasons. A descendant of 
one of the honored pastors of this church sustained to me 
the relation of a beloved sister as the wife of my brother ; 
and the pastor of your neighboring church at Manchester; 
Rev. Oliver Alden Taylor. How often have I listened to the 
glowing descriptions she gave of her grandfather and the 
eminent service he rendered the church and state while pas- 
tor here. And it would be a profitable service, did time per- 
mit to trace the influence of the honored men who have 
served you here so long and so well, not merely in the confines 
of this parish, but on the broader range of the Community 
at large. Rev. John Cleaveland, gave to this County an emi- 
nent physician in the person of his son, Nehemiah Cleaveland, 
M. D., whose public life was identified, with the varied inter- 
ests which entered into the growth of Topsfield. Of his four 
sons, brothers of my sister, one was a bright ornament of the 
legal profession ; and spent his life in connection with the Bar 
of New York. Another was a distinguished clergyman, and 
boldly and successfully defended the doctrines of our faith, 
in the face of great opposition in one of the New England 
cities and left a work nobly done for the church. Another 
became an ornament in the department of literature, and the 
fourth was known and honored in the manufacturing and 
ao-ricultural industry of this native county. Rare men all. 



156 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

A good deal of interest also has been awakened on my part 
to see how my friend, the present pastor in charge of this ven- 
erable pulpit wreathed with the crown of two centuries, may 
carry himself. It was my pleasure to greet him when he 
took his ordination vows, and we would gladly have retained 
him in the field where he was then installed. 

But the chief thing which has brought me here is to say a 
few things in regard to one of the later pastors of the church 
who is so well remembered by the older portion of the con- 
gregation. Rev. Robert Crowell, D.D. 

When called in 1847 to take the pastorate of the neigh- 
boring church at Wenham ; I took advise of your pastor as 
to the course of duty, and he as much as any one influenced 
the final decision. 

And when for the ordination services the Ecclesiastical 
Council was called, and parts were finally assigned, on him 
devolved the duty of giving the charge to the young pastor. 
It impressed me then as a most excellent address of its kind, 
and as the parts were published, I have had opportunity to 
read it often since, and now think it to be a model both in 
regard to instruction and style. During the years, in which 
neighborly, pastoral relations existed between us, I had occa- 
sion to meet him often under circumstances, that could not 
fail to reveal the spirit of the man. 

Attempting to walk over to Manchester of a Sabbath morn- 
ing to fulfil an appointment for an exchange, he slipped on 
the ice and brook his leg. Paying him a visit as he lay upon 
his couch in consequence of this disabled condition ; in per- 
fect calmness, and a spirit of gentle resignation he said I have 
often questioned whether I was in the place of duty, but I 
have now no doubt, as I lie here, that I am just where God 
has put me. 

When in December 1851, my brother of Manchester died, 
there was no question as to whom he would wish to have preach 
his funeral discourse, I hastened in my grief to Dr. Crowell 



Ttvo HiiudredtJi Aujiivcrsaiy. 157 

and engaged him for that service. The day of burial however 
proved so severe in cold and storm that he deemed it unsafe 
to leave his home, but delivered the sermon to the bereaved 
people on a subsequent Sabbath to the satisfaction of all 
concerned. Of Dr. Crowell personally I was impressed that 
he was loyal to himself. He cultivated those habits of life 
and character which brought him into close fellowship with 
God. The saint appeared clearly in the man. No one 
could be in his company for however short a time without 
feeling that he was spiritually minded ; holy beyond what 
is ordinary. He was loyal to the letter of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures. He was a thorough student of the Word. Not con- 
tent with his private studies of the orignal tongues, he in 
company with several others of the pastors in the vicinity 
formed what they called a Sub-Association, and met fre- 
quently to read and discuss together the Greek and Hebrew 
text. 

He was also loyal to the doctrines of that Word ; what the 
Scriptures taught satisfied. He was not led, by any specu- 
lations a step beyond, and when it is remembered who were 
his associates in the neighboring pastorates during his later 
years, one is not easily persuaded to believe there were essential 
doctrines in the Sacred Word which they had not discovered 
and the need of any departure from the faith which was then 
taught does not commend itself as worthy of serious regard. 
Those were the days, when Gale was at Rockport, Taylor at 
Manchester, Abbott at Beverly, Braman at Danvers, Worces- 
ter and Emerson at Salem, Cooke at Lynn, and the pulpit 
gave no uncertain instruction under their ministrations. Oh ! 
for the return of an era of such long and able pastorates 
when the preacher will have time and opportunity, as then, 
to teach his people thoroughly the profound things of life 
and salvation. 

Dr. Crowell evinced a deep interest in young ministers, he 
had a happy way in conversation of calling out their opinions 



158 Congregational C/uirc/i and Parish, Essex. 

on abstruse and difficult topics, carefully concealing his own 
judgment to the last, when by a brief utterance he made abid- 
insf his own clear convictions in the mind of the listener. I 
have brought to this hour the results of a conversation I once 
held with him on the views of the elder President Edwards 
in regard to the social ostracism of excommunicated church 
members. In counsel Dr. Crowell was regarded excellent, 
highly acceptable as a preacher, ever welcome to the pulpits 
of neighboring parishes. 

It was in 1855, that we assembled in the house of God 
where he had so long preached the gospel, to honor him in 
burial. Thence we bore his mortal remains to the neighbor- 
ing cemetery, committing them earth to earth, ashes to ashes, 
dust to dust, there to rest with his sleeping congregation and 
arise with them in triumphant, glorious resurrection. 

Brethren, we seem standing to-day in exalted contempla- 
tion with the apostle when he exclaims in the opening verses 
of the twelfth chapter of Hebrews: "Wherefore seeing we 
also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, 
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily 
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set be- 
fore us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our 
faith." And especially let us take heart in view of the con- 
cluding portion of the chapter : "Wherefore, we receiving a 
kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby 
we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 
For our God is a consuming fire." 



LCETTEI^S. 



Paris, July 14, 1883. 
My Dear Brother, — I promised to write you a brief line 
expressing my interest in the two hundredth anniversary of 
the founding of the Essex Church, occuring Aug. 22. I was 
unable to write before leaving Boston, and since landing at 
Liverpool have had no good opportunity until the present. Our 
stay has been brief, in places visited, until we reached London, 
and we have had much to see and think about. We have 
really been living, quite as much in England and Scotland of 
the past, as of the present. We visited Ambleside and 
Grasmere ; the home, the church and grave of Wordsworth ; 
Glasgow and Stirling; saw places sacred to the memory of 
Bruce and Wallace and Douglass ; the fields of Stirling and 
Bannockburn ; Melrose and Dryburg Abbeys, and Abbotts- 
ford, the home with the Library of Sir Walter Scott, as he 
left it; Edinburgh with its Castle and its Holy Rood and 
Memories of Mary Queen of Scotts, the rooms where she lived 
in part her singularly tragic life ; the house, pulpit and chair of 
John Knox, the grand old Scottish reformer ; the* old town of 
York with its Minster, its relics of Roman days and honored as 
the birth-place of Constantinc ; then London with so much 
to see, and now Paris. \n the brief time alloted, I am striv- 
ing to review the past as well as study the present. Do you 
wonder I have not much time save as I snatch a few minutes 
here and there to write. 



i6o Congregational Church a fid Parish, Essex. 

To-day all Paris is alive. It is the Anniversary of the tak- 
ing of the Bastile. I have been this morning to a grand 
review of Troops (in Bois de Boulogne). 

Poor France is struggling to maintain a Republic, but on 
the one hand the struggle is between the repressed elements 
of parties that have had well nigh centuries of history and 
bloodshed, and on the other, not between Catholicism and 
Protestanism, I wish it were, theji there would be more hope 
of grand fulfilment, but between Catholicism and Atheism. 
The Government is largely Atheistic. President Grevy is a 
noble looking man, we saw him to-day drive by us on his way 
to the Boulogne. But I am told he is Atheistical, indeed re- 
ligious instruction is taken from the schools, and the name of 
God even may be expunged from the school books, and yet 
boys of ten years are required to learn the use of the sword 
and bayonet. Paris is a beautiful city. Some have named it 
"The American Paradise." The contrast with England is 
marked. The almost absolute cleanliness of streets, and 
Boulevards, the tinting and coloring every where, the excita- 
bility of speech and movement, show a different people. 
There is an absence of English stability. To-day is the un- 
veiling of the Statue of Liberty, so long in preparation, and 
it is done with a clash between the Government of Paris and 
that of the Republic. Soldiers are posted to keep back the 
mob, and the President of the Republic withholds his pres- 
ence. 

But I turn for a little while as a privilege from all this, to 
the scenes, faces and memories of dear old Essex. The 
Town I remember best is that of twenty years ago. It is 
no wonder I love to hold in memory those who had so 
much to do, outside the home, in moulding my own life. 
Pardon me if I speak of a few personal things. Deep in my 
heart do I keep the memory of my two boyhood pastors — 
the first, while striving personally to interest me and aid me 
in a course of study, which after the lapse of years I was en- 



Two Hiindirdth Anniversary. i6i 

abled to pursue, did not fail to set before me, the claims of 
God on my life. The second led me to Christ, was to me 
brother and pastor and opened the way, for my then maturer 
years, to enter the Christian Ministry. I remember with 
gratitude that Superintendent ; that man who did so much for 
Christ's kingdom in the Sabbath School, that man, who knew 
how to educate, and not only laid the foundation of christian 
character in his pupils but made theologians of them. I 
remember the three Sabbath School teachers, the last of whom 
led his class like a good shepherd. They are all gone to the 
Spirit land, — and so to have that wider circle, many of whom 
were closely and dearly related, and some of them recently 
called. Many a face, many a voice comes to me to-night in 
this great city of another continent, and my memories are 
tender. But you in review will go back to earliest days, before 
the town had its present name, and to such men as Wise and 
others, who helped to make the first pages of religious history 
in "Chebacco." Two hundred years! Why you are within 
eighty years of Brewster and his Scrooby church, "the model," 
Professor Hoppin tells us, "of all our New England churches 
to-day !" A few days ago, I passed on the rail, within a short 
distance of this "Spiritual birth place of America" and I con- 
fess I would rather have visited this "modern Nazareth" than 
St. Paul's or even Westminister in London. Scrooby and 
Brewster's church is not so very far behind your early 
history. 

John Robinson and the Speedwell and May Flower are a 
little nearer. But go back a step in history. Side by side 
in the Museum of Edinburgh are the pulpit of John Knox, 
and the Guillotine, on which the old Scottish Covenanters 
were beheaded, I thanked God as I looked upon them for the 
brave men that battled the storm. But Knox and Calvin 
and kindred spirits clasped hands, and in the battle for the 
truth such spirits make a history. Come down now, from 
those days, a century later, and men like Brewster, and John 



1 62 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

Robinson will rise, and driven out of England by persecution, 
with the pressure of centuries and Providence behind them, 
they ivill under God's lead find a Plymouth Rock, — Congre- 
gationalism ! ! No other ism was to be tolerated in a new 
world by the Pilgrims. All else was left behind — A scion 
of that mighty root was borne to your dear old town and 
planted in faith and carefully and prayerfully nourished. It 
took root and has grown. The fruitage we can see. Plymouth 
Rock has done for Essex mentally, morally and spiritually, 
what eternity alone will reveal. I revere the names you will 
revere to-day. I am greatly disappointed not to be with you 
to assure you in person of my own interest in the church and 
to listen to those who w^ill address you. They will dwell 
upon much that binds us together in the work, for Christ, 
past and present. What a difference in the progress of the 
Gospel among all nations since John Wise, was called home — 
(I congratulate you my brother on your happy relation with 
that dear people) God bless the dear old Church. I am with 
you in spirit though far away. Accept my heartiest wishes 
and sincere prayers for the success of your plans to-day. 
Read of this what you desire and believe me. 

Your brother in Christ, 

Michael Burnham. 



Rowley, Aug. 2, 1883. 

My Dear Sir, — The letter from yourself and your associ- 
ates inviting me to be presentat yourcelebration, came during 
my absence from home, and it must not be left longer un- 
noticed. 

My associations with your church are exceedingly pleasant, 
where I used to preach that Gospel upon which as a corner 
stone, the fathers and the children have rested their hopes. 
Many lively and choice stones have gone into that building 
which was begun among you two hundred years ago, and 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 163 

which will not reach its completion, and show its utmost 
beauty till the Lord shall come. 

Your Pastor Rev. Mr. Crowell, I had but little intercourse 
with, except in an occasional exchange, but know him to 
have been a man of God, who had a system of faith which was 
not the less desirable to him because it had been the faith of 
the centuries, and with no sentiment of which he thought it 
needful to part in order to make the rest more defensible, and 
the light of which was like that of the sun, brightest and best 
when all its colors were preserved and blended. 

With the shorter pastorate of Rev. Mr. Bacon, I was some- 
what acquainted, and regarded him as a man who preached 
faithfully the gospel he professed to love, and devoted him- 
self to the interests of the people who were committed to his 
care. 

There was one I used to meet, David Choate, whom to 
know once is always to remember, whose life was an "epistle 
known and read of all men," and who will have as large a 
proportion as we can well conceive any one to have, of chil- 
dren whom he has instructed and guided, and over whom he 
will be permitted to say to the Master at the last, here am I, 
and the children thou hast given me. 

These, and other considerations, rather incline me to 
answer affirmatively your invitation. I have, however, a life 
infirmity which I did not have when I used to mingle with 
those who are gone and who still remain among you, which 
anchors me quite strongly to my home when public occasions 
would call me away. It has been somewhat increased by 
my return last month to the College where I graduated fifty 
years ago, and where I felt obliged to take certain responsi- 
bilities for my Class which my strength hardly warranted, 
and which make it uncertain whether it is suitable for me, so 
soon, to go again into a public assembly where my mind and 
heart would be much excited and interested. I propose, 
therefore, not to positively decline, but to let the matter be 



164 Congrcgatio}uil Church and Parish, Essiw. 

under consideration until I shall see whether the increasing 
inflammation of my eyes is likely to be more troublesome and 
permanent. If I am able to come shall probably bring with 
me the two members of my family who, having shared the 
griefs of my home, I shall desire to share with me in all 
the interest your glad occasion may impart. 

Very truh- yours, 

J. Pike. 

To Caleb S. Gag'e and others. Committee 
of First Church and Parish . Essex. 



The following- sketch of Mr. Webster was read by Mr. Palmer before the reading of 
the letter from Rev. J. C. Webster. See Hist. Essex p. ii^. 

"Nov. 13, 1799 Rev. Josiah Webster was ordained pastor of the church 
as successor to Mr. Cleaveland. Rev. Stephen Peabodv, ot" Atkinson N. 
H. preached the ordination sermon. 

In 1S06, having requested a dismission, a mutual council is called, and 
by their advice his pastoral relation is dissolved on the 23 of July. 

The reason for this action was briefly as follows. At Mr. Webster's set- 
tlement the parish gave him $500 as a donation, or settlement as it was 
called. His annual salary was $334 and the parsonage. As the currenc}' 
diminished in value Ws salary became insufficient. The parish voted to 
allow $100 from ^-ear to year as should be found necessary. The pa; tor 
was satisfied with the amount of this addition but insisted that it should 
be made a part of the orignal contract. The parish thought their pastor 
should have confidence in their good will to vote the addition yearly along 
with the rest of the salary. It was upon this issue that the pastoral relation 
was dissolved at Mr. Webster's request. 

He was afterwards settled in Hampton, N. H. June S, iSoS where after a 
quiet and successful ministry he died March 27, 1837, aged 65. 

In the twelfth vol. of the American Quarterly Register there is a bio- 
graphical sketch of him from which these extracts have been taken. 

'•Rev. Josiah Webster, the son of Nathan and Elizabeth Webster was 
born in Chester, N. H.Jan. 16, 1772. 

His father was a farmer, barely in circumstances of comfort, with patient, 
laborious industry, providing for the wants of a large family, and therefore 
unable to furnish more than a common school education for his children. 

Josiah, the eldest, in his i6th year went to reside with an uncle, whose 
aflfairs he managed in his many and long absences. But for a long time 
he had felt a strong desire to become a minister of the gospel, and though 
he had acquired only sufficient property to defray the expenses of prepara- 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 165 

tion for college, and was distressed and discouraged by the opposition of 
his friends, in his 19th year he repaired to the Rev. Mr. Remington, of 
Candia, under whose hospitable roof he began his studies. Afterwards 
he spent a year under the tuition of that eminent Christian, Rev. Dr. 
Thayer of Kingston, and completed his preparation at the Academy in 
Atkinson. It was at Kingston that he indulged the hope of reconciliation 
to God, and of the commencement of the Christian life. A deeper con- 
sciousness of sin than he had ever felt before, pressed upon his heart, so 
full of distress and alarm that for several days he was unable to pursue his 
studies. After a season of deep conviction, light broke out upon his mind, 
'like a morning of Summer just as the sun rises, when the winds are 
hushed, and a solemn but delightful stillness prevails everywhere and the 
face of nature smiles with verdure and flowers.' 

From Atkinson he took a journey of more than eighty miles to Dart- 
mouth College, for the mere purpose of examination and .admission to 
college. His poverty prevented his remaining a single week to enjoy its 
advantages. Returning to Atkinson he pursued his studies under the in- 
struction of the preceptor Stephen P. Webster, until the Spring of 1795, 
when with little improvement in the state of his funds he rejoined his class 
in College, and completed his first year. At the close of the vacation, 
though disappointed in every effort to raise money among his friends he 
once more set his face toward College. By a mysterious providence of 
God he fell in company with a stranger, who, learning his condition, with- 
out solicitation offered to relieve his necessities by a loan of money to be 
repaid whenever his circumstances should permit. The traveler was 
afterward ascertained to be a merchant of Newburyport. After graduating 
in the year 1798, he studied theology with Rev. Stephen Peabody, the min- 
ister of Atkinson, about a year, and was then licensed to preach the gospel 
by the Haverhill Association. Soon after he was invited to preach as a 
candidate in Chebacco Parish, Ipswich, where, Nov. 1799, he was ordained. 
After his dismission from that pastorate on account of the inadequacy of 
his support, he was invited to preach to the church at Hampton, N.H., and 
was installed there, June 8, 1808. During his ministry at Hampton there 
were several revivals of religion as the fruit of which one hundred and 
seventy persons were gathered into the church. 

It deserves to be recorded to the lasting honor of Mr. Webster that he 
perceived the evil effects of the use of ardent spirits at a period when even 
the eyes of good men were generally closed to the subject. Almost from 
the first of his ministry he preached against intemperance, and for years 
before the temperance reformation, observed entire abstinence from all that 
intoxicates. 

He was also deeply interested in the cause of education. To his influence 
and agency, the Academy in Hampton, one of the most respectable and 
flourishing institutions in the State, is indebted for much of its character 
and usefulness. 



1 66 Congregational CJiurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

Attached to the faith and institutions of our fathers, the doctrines of 
grace he understood and loved, and preached to the very close of his life. 
His last public act was the preaching of the sermon at the ordination of 
his son Rev. John C. Webster at Newburyport, as seaman's preacher at 
Cronstadt Russia March 15, 1837. Anxious to perform the service assigned 
him on that occasion, he made an effort his impared health was unable to 
sustain. The day following he returned home, and taking his bed remarked 
that he thought his work on earth was done. 'Well' said he 'if it be so, I 
know not with what act I could close life with more satisfaction.' He died 
of inflammation of the lungs. During his sickness, his mind was often 
alienated, but in lucid intervals he uniformly expressed confidence in the 
mercy of God, and cast himself upon the blood of atonement. 

His funeral sermon, preached by the Rev. Dr. Dana, is highly commen- 
datory of his ministerial qualifications, devotion to his proper work, and 
his extensive usefulness. Mr. Webster published five discourses delivered 
on difterent occasions." 

Wheaton, III., Aug. 3, 1883. 

Rev. F. H. Palmer: Dear Brother, — Though I am a 
personal stranger to you, and probably, to all in your church 
and parish, allow me to express my interest in the two hun- 
dredth anniversary of your church, which I notice is at 
hand, from the fact that my father was pastor of it the first 
six years of the present century. And though he left Essex, 
then Chebacco parish in Ipswich, before I was born, some 
of my earliest and very pleasant reminiscences are with 
your town. The names of its Choates, Lows, Burnhams 
and others were household words in our family during all the 
first years of my life. And I know my father carried to his 
grave the fondest remembrance of many of the associations 
of that, his first pastoral love. 

I may, therefore, be excused for thinking it not inappro- 
priate to contribute, for use as it may be thought best, a few 
extracts from letters in my possession, written years ago, in- 
dicative of the kind and high esteem in which my father was 
held by some of his parishioners, who were natives or citizens 
of Essex, whose professional and national reputation has 
scarcely been excelled, and of whom the town may very justly 
be proud. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 167 

Under date, Cincinnati Ohio, Dec. 5, 1856, R. D. Mussey 
M. D. one of the most distinguished physicians and surgeons 
of the U. S. wrote as follows : 

"My first acquaintance with him was in the parish of Ips- 
wich, now Essex, Mass., while he was the pastor of the church 
in that place. It was in great measure due to his efficient 
friendship that, young and inexperienced, I gained an early in- 
troduction to professional practice. No spirit of jealousy, envy 
or concealment seemed to have found a place in the bosom 
of Mr. Webster. * * And now after the lapse of fifty 
years, the impressions of his cordial salutations, whether at 
his home or on the street, made with a firm grasp of the- 
hand, a rich and benignant smile often accompanied with the 
announcement of some item of intelligence on a topic of mu- 
tual interest, comes up with the freshness of yesterday. 

As a preacher, Mr. Webster was solemn and impressive. 
His exhibitions of truth were clear, intelligible and direct, 
not encumbered with verboseness nor metaphysical subtilties, 
but adapted to the comprehension of all classes of hearers, 
and uttered with an earnestness and ardor, which showed 
how deeply he was impressed with the magnitude and respon- 
sibility of the gospel ministry." 

Hon. David Choate, under date, Essex, April 18, 1870 
wrote : 

"The impressive yet affectionate solemnity of your father 
more especially in, but often out of the pulpit was a striking 
feature — how he would gloiu as he advanced both in prayer 
and preaching, rising from half inarticulate utterance to the 
full swellings of a rich and mellow voice, increasing frequently 
to the end. And then it was more especially that the gran- 
dure of the Amen was so overwhelming, always in the prayers, 
and, I think, always at the close of the sermon. And the 
Amen, I have never yet forgotten, was uttered, as a part of 
the prayer, and never as a word added to it; thus giving 
more than mortal significance to it * * * I have often 



1 68 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

times wished your father's manner in pronouncing the Amen 
might be revived. I have seen an audience so Hfted up by it, 
so filled \\\\h it, that after its utterance he would himself be 
calmly occupying his seat long before the people began to 
sit down or could think he was done, — "they thought him 
still speaking, still stood firm to hear." I assure you this is 
no fancy sketch, it began in my childhood, I could never for- 
get it: I never shall." 

Hon. Rufus Choate wrote as follows from Boston, July 27, 

1857: 

"He had times of hearing the children of the parish in 
their catechism, and his appearance then and in the pulpit 
are all blended in my recollections, into one general impres- 
sion of a certain dignity of goodness. What led to his dis- 
missal I do not know * * * Three or four years after- 
ward, passing that way he was invited to preach in his own 
pulpit, and the house was crowded as at an ordination, [which 
in those days, meant a crowed]. 

When boarding in his family for five or six months in 18 15, 
[at Hampton, N.H.] while preparing for college, his kindness 
during all that time was so uniform, his councils regarding 
studies, deportment and a good life, so anxious, parental and 
wise, that I remember him as a son remembers his father, 
and would as little attempt an analysis of his character or 
critical estimate of his intellectual and professional claims 
and rank. * * * jj^ j-^jg general manner he was serious. 
He held the very highest tone of the orthodox opinions of 
his school and preached them without shade or accommoda- 
tion. But his disposition was gentle and affectionate, his en- 
joyment of beauty in nature, music, literature and eloquence 
enthusiastic and tasteful ; his occasional laugh unforced and 
most pleasant, and his conversation instructive and full of 
illustrative anecdote. I do not know what were the judg- 
ments of his clerical brethren, but, if I may trust my own 
distinct recollection, he was among the most graceful and 



Two Hitndrcdtli Anniversary. 169 

most chaste of the elocutionists of the pulpit of that time 
and that Association." 

Were it practicable, it would afford me great pleasure to 
be present at your celebration. It must be one of unusual 
historic and general interest. And I shall esteem it a great 
favor to receive from you any published account of it. 

Very fraternally yours, 

J. C. Webster. 



BoxFORD, Aug, 20th, 1883. 

Gentlemen, — Accept my thanks for your kind invitation 
to be present on the interesting occasion you are to observe 
on the 22nd inst., an invitation with which I should gladly 
comply, if my health permitted. 

Among the names, so far as my knowledge extends, which 
have rendered Essex memorable, two are very prominent — 
Crowell and Choate {''par nobile fratnun,") the one, for a 
long period pastor of the Church ; the other, for several years, 
an officer in the Church and superintendent of the Sabbath 
School. 

Dr. Crowell was in the prime of life when I, as a young 
man, first came to this town. From the very beginning of 
my acquaintance, I was led highly to esteem him. He was 
a sound and able preacher. I was accustomed to make a 
yearly exchange with him, and my people were always glad 
to see him in the pulpit. 

Dea. Choate, besides possessing many other excellent qual- 
ities, I remember as peculiarly original and entertaining in 
his method of conducting the Sabbath School. 

It may well be said of these sainted men that "Being dead, 
they yet speak." The blessed influence of their instructions 
and example will long be felt. 



I/O Congregational Clinrch and Parish, Essex. 

On the day you are to observe, mention will undoubtedly 

be made of many other worthies now in glory. May the 

occasion, and its results, be to you all that you can desire ! 

Yours very truly, 

W.M. S. COGGIN. 

To Messrs. Gage. Cogszvell. and others. 
Committee of Church and Parish. 



Sabbath School F^istoi^y. 



In the absence of the Address on the Sabbath School which was expected at the Anni- 
versary, the Church voted Oct. 2.3d, 1883 that the following Historical Address delivered 
at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Sabbath School Dec. 26, 1864, by the Superintendent 
Dea. David Choate, be published in this volume. 

Dear friends ! twice five and twenty years ago ! 
Alas ! how time escapes, — 'tis even so ! 

It was nearly in this manner, that the English Poet began 
his letter to his friend. He indeed had the lapse of only once 
that section of man's life to mourn, — we have it twice. 

Whether on a review, our joy should be greater than his 
for having survived the longer campaign; — or whether our 
sorrow should overbalance for the reason that so many more 
have fallen by our side to renew the battles of life no more, 
it may not be easy to decide. 

"Twice five and twenty years" ! How difficult, how impos- 
sible to realize the flight of so vast a portion of human life ! 
Do you ask, where is the age, the manhood, the maidens 
fair, the children sweet of fifty years ago? I should answer 
of all the first, and many of the second class, in the words 
of Doct. Daniel Hopkins heard here in my earliest boyhood, 
"They are all gone down into the grave, minister and all" ! 
Do you ask after \h& young men and the fairmaidens} Alas ! 
the survivors of them have slid or are sliding into the arm- 
chair of life. And if the second generation of those "sweet 
children" are with us here to-day, what time of life I ask, do 
you think it is with them} 



172 Congregational CJinrch and Parish, Essex. 

We are still however far, I apprehend, from appreciating 
all that is implied in the space of fifty years. Let us look a 
moment outside these venerated walls and see how the world 
itself has moved on since the first classes assembled around 
the newly ordained minister. Take a short walk about town. 
The same river still runs between the same banks. The same 
fine sheet of water, rolling down the same gentle Falls, still 
supplies it, thence rolling onward to the sea. You see the 
same woodlands and the same salt meadows — almost the same 
King-fisher and Robin seem to fly over us: — But with the 
exception of the unchanged face of unchanging nature, how 
changed is all beside ! Old Chebacco becomes the namesake 
of the county. Her population more stationary than other 
things, has yet gone up from about twelve hundred to seven- 
teen hundred, notwithstanding small but unreturning swarms 
have been going away from the parent hive. Two hundred 
dwelling houses, or nearly so, five school houses and two 
churches have been built and one remodeled. The little 
Pinkey of twelve to fifteen tons, drawn upon wheels, has be- 
come the tall schooner of 1 50 or 200. And as a fine comment 
upon the industry and economy of the people, the wealth of 
the town has advanced in these fifty years from $258,000 by 
the assessors' books in 18 19, to $930,000 being three and six 
tenths times as great now as then. 

A moments glance at the ontsidc world may aid still further 
in taking in the great idea of fifty years. Since the day when 
one of the earliest Sabbath School Scholars whose step is still 
firm, repeated the 176 verses of the 1 19th Psalm, a thing never 
since done I believe at one lesson, every Railroad in America 
has been built. 

The idea of a Telegraph wire either through the air or 
under the sea, had entered no man's mind until this Sabbath 
School had been in operation eighteen years. Within less than 
one half of the time of our Sabbath School existence Steam 
Power which had already one foot upon the land, has set the 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 173 

other down upon the sea. And although we may not say with 
Campbell, I believe, that "the Roman Empire has begun and 
ended" since that day, yet an empire larger by far than ever 
the Roman was, has been acquired by us and added to us. 
Since the early classes were assembled within these dear old 
walls, sixteen states have been added to the Union, while I 
deny that any have dropped out of it. Sixteen states I say 
of such magnitude as would make 164 like Massachusetts, 
besides territory enough to make six and thirty more. And 
while these lessons have been going on, we have seen thirteen 
Presidents of these United States. The country has endured 
twelve party conflicts, some of which have been nearly con- 
vulsive, and yet every one of them has subsided within a 
week after the struggle, as did the severest and the last. 

Such is a glance at a few of the events that have transpired 
outside the Sabbath School room during the past fifty years. 
But I see and feel how inadequate all this has been to pro- 
mote the object I have desired, and dismiss it with very little 
satisfaction. 

The precise day and hour when our Sabbath School be- 
gan to assemble around the old Pulpit cannot now be de- 
termined. The utter absence of Records is most painfully 
felt this day. The following statement of its origin however, 
collected from various conversations with the founder himself 
was read in his hearing July 4, 1849, and it is believed he ap- 
proved it, as he made no objection to it either then or at any 
other time. The following is the language, "The experiment 
of organizing a Sabbath School in the town of Essex, then 
Chebacco, was first made by Rev. Robert Crowell, our present 
pastor, in the Summer of 18 14, and within a few weeks after 
his ordination. He met the children, then thirty to forty in 
number, in the pews fronting the pulpit, at the ringing of the 
first bell in the morning, and heard them repeat verses of 
Scripture and Hymns. The school was discontinued through 
the Winter for several successive years." 



1/4 Congregational Clwrch and Parish, Essex. 

It is known by documentary evidence, that the ordination 
referred to, took place on August lO, 1814, and the expres- 
sion "within a few weeks after the ordination," would lead us 
to believe that in September or October the School began to 
assemble. 

The earliest Record relating to the school known to exist 
is dated October 14, 1828, and reads as follows, viz. : "At a 
meeting of the Managers of the Essex Sabbath School, voted 
Samuel Burnham, Superintendent for one year: Voted that 
the following persons be requested to instruct in the Sabbath 
School for one year, viz. : J. S. Burnham, U. G. Spofford, Caleb 
Cogswell, Joseph Perkins, Zacheus Burnham, John Mears, Jr., 
William Henry Mears, — Louisa Crowell, Lucy Choate, Mary 
Boyd, Sally Burnham, Elizabeth Perkins, Lydia Perkins, Clara 
Perkins, Sally Bowers, Betsey Kinsman, Elizabeth Proctor: 
Voted David Choate Assistant Superintendent. And at a 
meoting of the Managers, Dec. 2, 1829, voted that there be 
two Superintendents, viz. : S. Burnham, and D. Choate." 

It was also voted that there be two Librarians, viz. : U. G. 
Spofford and J. S. Burnham; the teachers of last year were 
re-chosen for one year more with the following in addition, 
Francis Burnham, Adoniram Story, Philemon S. Eveleth, 
Mrs. Hannah C. Crowell, Miss Abigail P. Choate, Mrs. Sally 
Burnham, Mrs. E. W. Choate, Mrs. Mina Burnham, Miss 
Sally Norton. 

Twenty of the above twenty-seven teachers for these two 
years, were the fruits of the first revival of religion after the 
opening of the Sabbath School and which commenced late in 
the autumn of 1827. 

No list of the members of the school for the first seventeen 
years can now be found. A full record however, of the mem- 
bers, in the hand writing of the Founder of the School, as it 
stood in 183 I has been carefully preserved, and is of much 
historical value. The whole number attendmg as pupils was 
then 140, of whom 84 had left when the present Superinten- 
dent began to act as such in the summer of 1837. 



Two Hundredtli Anniversary. 175 

It would at first seem a natural division of a Historical 
sketch of the Sabbath School at the close of its 50th year, to 
take each of the five decades by itself. In the operations of the 
School however, there seems nothing particularly distinctive. 
One decade runs into another, and as there would be the un- 
avoidable overlapping, 2,nd more especially as even the greatest 
latitude of time will require whole years to be crowded into 
a word, or omitted altogether, a running sketch of detached 
events is all that can be attempted, and not always regarding 
strictly chronological order, even then. 

An uncertainty to us, hangs over the time when the change 
was made from simply committing Scripture, and a Question 
book was introduced. The first zvrittcn evidence we have is 
the following. "At a Meeting of the Managers of the Sabbath 
School Oct. 14, 1828, it was voted to recommend 'Judson's 
Questions' for the use of the school and that brother Francis 
Burnham be a committee to procure two dozen of them." It 
seems probable that this was the first use of a Question Book, 
and they continued to be used until in July, 1843, their use 
was discontinued by vote of the teachers ; and this discontin- 
uance lasted through eleven consecutive years. 

Our Sabbath School is the child of the Church. Although 
this idea has been sometimes repudiated, there is still evidence 
of its truth in our case the most abundant. 

To say nothing of the fact, that the minister brought the 
school into existence, rocked it in its cradle, and carried it in 
his arms for whole years together, the Church itself as early as 
August, 1828, procured Watts' Catechism at its own expense, 
for the little ones of the school, and on the 7th of December, 
1829, the Church voted to appropriate the sum of $15 for 
the purchase of a Library, and again on the 6th of May, 1832, 
eight dollars more for the same purpose. In Jan. 1838, the 
Church bought two dozen more Question Books, and three 
dozen Catechisms. The ^/rr?/ expenditure for Bibles, begun 
in 1849, will be referred to again. 



1/6 Congregational CJinrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

But if a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the time when 
committing Scripture exclusively gave way to the Question 
Book, a still deeper one rests upon the time when the transi- 
tion of the School from the hands of its Founder, to those 
of its first Superintendent, Capt. Samuel Burnham, was made. 
Probably it was done gradually. That early Superintendent 
is not fully able to recollect the time when he first came into 
the School. Female teachers are believed to have heard the 
classes at first when the pastor was absent on exchange. The 
first male teachers were probably non-professors ; indeed, 
they must have been ; and with two or three exceptions this 
must have continued until the Revival of religion in 1828. 

The learning and reciting of Watts' Psalms and Hymns in 
connection with the Bible lessons, was more popular with the 
School for the first five or six years, beginning in 1838, than 
it has been since. The 138th Hymn, ist Book was quite a fa- 
vorite, if we may judge from the number who committed it. 
The hymn commences with the verse — 

"Firm as the earth, thy gospel stands, 
My Lord, my hope, my trust; 
If I am found in Jesus' hands. 
My soul can ne'er be lost." 

This Hymn was committed twenty-six years ago, and 
twenty-five out of the thirty-one who learned it, are believed 
to be still living. Of the six not living, some, we are certain, 
died in the undoubting belief that being "found in Jesus' 
hands their souls would ne'er be lost." 

Among other hymns committed by the school during the 
years referred to, were those beginning 

"Stand up my soul, shake off thy fears" — 

"Life is the time to serve the Lord" — 

"Thus far the Lord hath led me on" — 

"There is a land of pure delight" — 

"Lo ! on a narrow neck of land" — 

"Lord I am thine, but thou wilt prove 
My faith, my patience, and my love." 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 177 

These are only specimens, I give them by special request, 
as the recollection of them is dear to many hearts. 

A call for volunteers in 1839 to read the Bible through 
without the offer of any reward whatever, was responded to 
by 136, not including teachers. These were all called on at 
two different times to report progress. A few (one certainly) 
had finished the whole before the first inquiry. How much 
was read after the second inquiry cannot now be known. Some, 
no doubt, left the great body of the book unread. But on 
summing up the chapters as given in by those who read, the 
number was 29,991 ; — equal to reading the whole Bible by 
25 readers, with 272 verses to spare. All were charged to 
read names of persons and places with care. My belief is, 
that much of this reading was too rapid. Indeed, when in 
1852, on the suggestion of a distinguished neighboring cler- 
gyman, a large number entered upon the plan of reading the 
Bible through in a year by reading three chapters on each 
and every week day, and five on every Sabbath, I became 
more than ever convinced that the reading was quite to rapid 
to derive lasting good from it. I have never encouraged such 
hasty reading since, and I probably never shall again. 

If Dr. Taylor of Norwich could read the Epistle to the 
Romans through seventeen times, and never find the doctrine 
of Atonement in it, as he said he did, though it is admitted 
that his prejudice like an extinguisher upon a candle would 
be pretty effectual against receiving light from it, as Mr. 
Newton said was the case ; — yet I ask were not some of his 
readings probably too rapid, to admit of his discovering that 
pearl of great price? 

I was about to speak of a system of class papers kept by 
the teachers for a few years, reporting the doings and conduct 
of the members, but must pass that with much other matter 
relating to the machinery of Sabbath Schools. 

So of five pages of statistics, I must omit the details and 
give only a few results. Since our fourth of July celebration 



178 Congregational CJiurch and Parish, Essex. 

in 1859, when a full report was made, the school has contri- 
buted for benevolent purposes $442.99, — Expended at home 
on Libraries, library cases, and incidentals $185. 

Reading for Soldiers $102. Missionary operations $109. 
Whole amount contributed, disbursed, mostly abroad since 
July 1849, back of which date I have not reckoned, $1015.72, 
leaving however a balance of $32.74 on hand. — I must omit 
all details of our numbers, except the fact that from and since 
1 83 1 when the record of them begins, the whole number is 
724. Of their present residences and upon their occupations, 
I must be reluctantly silent, or only say, that of 72, we have 
lost all knowledge, and that 40 of our late or former number, 
are, or have been in the army or navy — that of these, seven 
will return no more by reason of death. Of Marriages, 42 
females, and 19 male members, either present, late, or at some 
former time have entered the marriage state since the com- 
mencement of 1854 — 23 young men never members, have 
sought and found their brides in our Sabbath School, and led 
them to the altar, — and finally I mention the vase once filled 
with beautiful flowers, now changed to dried leaves, and smell- 
ing of death. Seventy-three late or former members have 
died since the beginning of 1850, 26 of them being abroad 
(including the Soldiers) . One precious teacher Mrs. Cogswell 
and one dear pupil, Mary A. Andrews have died since this oc- 
casion was contemplated. 

The whole number now enrolled is 338, of whom 184 are 
over 15 years of age —143 between 5 and 15 — and 12 under 
5, — 91 belong to the Infant Department. 

It is disagreeable to pass over the Sabbaths, the months 
and the years of our history in so much silence. Character 
has been developed sometimes with amazing rapidity. A 
small turn of the moral kaleidoscope, has often presented 
character in a new light entirely. The minds and hearts of 
children are being constantly developed, in some new and 
often unexpected form. Something of all this is known, but 



Tzvo HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. 179 

more is unknown, except as revealed by events, sometimes 
long years afterward. A boy has sometimes appeared to be 
attending closely to all that was said in Sabbath School, when it 
was subsequently found that he was meditating a robbery and 
really perpetrated it before sundown on the same day. Another 
would seem careless and would half break his teacher's heart, 
when there was afterwards some reason to think that under 
that unpropitious exterior there was a hopeful upspringing 
plant, and the boy was laying up treasure in heaven ! One 
great defect in the working of the Sabbath School, is the 
want of power to collect the scintillations of thought struck 
out in the classes, and then 'bring them together, and let the 
rays commingle and the light be held up where all may see 
it. Who is to be the Prof. Morse of the Sunday School 
laying a telegraph wire from each class to the Superintendent's 
desk? 

While upon this point of bringing out character in the 
Sunday School, I would love to recur to a few, perhaps for- 
, gotten incidents, and by many never known, for the reason 
that it may bear with advantage on the future. When in 
1852 we were upon the character of Mary, last at the cross, 
and first at the Sepulchre, it seemed proper to ask for an 
imitation of that trait in any cross bearing matter relating to 
the Sunday School. We were then reviewing the Catechism 
publicly once a month. Some were occasionally absent on 
that day. I had had too much experience not to know, 
that there may be good cause for absence often repeated too. 
You may be too ill, in a world where pain is the side com- 
panion of man. One of our older members was absent in 
1 86 1 for which I could not at the time account, and it troub- 
led me. It was afterwards known that the absence was for 
the purpose of ministering to the wants of a dying mother, 
and another, at another time, was about the bed of a dying 
daughter. 

One of our early members, once sent me word giving the 



i8o Congregational Church and ParisJi, Essex. 

reason of absence, I have forgotten the year, but never the 
message ! 

But let me repeat the rule to-day, laid down twelve years 
ago, that when God puts no sorrow in your path, beware how 
you put any obstacle to duty there. 

It is no part of the female character to be too timid for 
duty ; but there may be such a misapprehension of it, as admits 
of deserting our appropriate place. That person has never 
yet walked worthily through this world, who has had no pain- 
ful duty to do. I once desired a young lady to read a piece 
upon the stage at one of our fourth of July celebrations. It 
raised a great conflict in her mind between her native mod- 
esty and her sense of duty. ''IdontseeJiowIcan" was her 
answer, "but if you wish me to, I will," smiling, "if it half kills 
me." And another of a great heart but waning life, and 
whose feet have brought her here with difficulty enough for 
years, was never known to draw back from duty. One of 
those "suns has set, O rise some other such." You know, 
dear friends, that classes have sometimes come and staid and 
gone away, when none could be found to act as teacher. 
May tliat blot never stain the yet iimvritten page of the opening 
fifty years. 

And now let me say, that having been upon a voyage of 
fifty years, we come to anchor for one hour in port. Owners, 
underwriters and friends, we bid you a hearty welcome on 
board our little Barque. You will demand to know what we 
have done and left undone. On our part, we ask your further 
orders, and take a new departure for the voyage this day. 

What account, fellow teachers, have we to give of ourselves? 

What have we learnt, where'er we've been? 
From all we've heard, from all we've seen } 
What know we more that's worth the knowing.'' 
What have we done, that's worth the doing.? 
What have we sought, that we should shun.? 
What duty have we left undone ; 
Or into what new follies run? 



Two HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. i8i 

Smooth as the sea of the Sabbath School seems to be, 
must we not say it is as deceitful as any other sea. And that 
it abounds with dangers, to which we must not be bhnd. Oh 
may this christian mariner (Mr. Bullard) continue to hang 
out the flag, or float the buoy over the quicksands and the 
rocks, as he has so long been doing. 

Is it not one of our great errors, that zve are too often satis- 
fied with the apparent amount of Bible knowledge, wJiile the 
unbroken pozver of sin remains in the heart? We have heard 
of the blind man, who every day walked around the walls of 
Stirling Castle, with the door-keys in his hand, polished by 
the friction of many years. This turnkey would recite to 
those he met, any passage of Scripture whatever, started 
by them, without the error of a word. When I read so much 
of his story as this, I said, Oh that we were all blind like 
him ! But ah ! the word had no place in his heart. His eve- 
nings were spent in sin and shame ! His heart was as hard 
as the rock upon which Stirling Castle was built ! 

We hope we do- not forget to urge these dear ones to look 
to God in prayer, in the day when their troubles come, as 
come they will. When the poet Cowper was crushed down 
in school by the fear of a large, bad boy, and whom he knew 
better by his Shoe Buckles than his face, he used to go to 
God for help as well as he could, saying, I will not be afraid 
of what man can do unto me ! "No prayer," said Rev. Mr. 
Laurie at the Sabbath School convention in Newburyport, 
"No prayer is inefficacious" 

We have endeavored to encourage Christian Benevolence! 
It may be said that when you have taught a child to give 
bread to the hungry, and water to the thirsty, you have made 
him Benevolent. But can he not go farther? Cannot the 
child understand that he should look farther? \\. costs some- 
thing to prove to the widow of Scindiah the folly of Suttee ! 
And can the child not understand what burning one's self to 
death means? Does any one believe that Sheik Tahar would 



1 82 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

ever have heard of, and embraced the Christian Religion, had 
not the contribution boxes been carried round in New England ? 
And shall not the Sabbath School throw its mite into them? 
Does any one believe that Capt. Augustine Heard of Ipswich, 
commander of the brig Caravan of Salem in 1812, with all 
his benevolence, would ever have taken Harriet Newell, her 
husband, and the early missionaries, on board his vessel on 
their missionary voyage to India, had not the ladies of the 
Tabernacle and other Societies in Salem have thrown their 
gold necklaces into the contribution box. Sabbath Schools 
must make it up now, for then, they had not begun to be. 

The sum of $1015 saved by our Sabbath School and 
brought together by little hands during the past fifteen years, 
we trust has wiped away some tears, but the best thing about 
it, is, that the liabit of saving and giving aivay will be like a 
river rolling onward to the sea, and sometimes one which 
may overflow all its banks. Old habits, especially those of 
the waster and the spendthrift, unless uprooted, will prove, as 
Horace Mann said, an Engine of forty Satan power, for over- 
throwing good and establishing evil. They must be counter- 
acted by antagonistic forces or all is lost. Old habits are the 
masked batteries of modern warfare, with this peculiarity, 
that with them we shall destroy not the enemy but ourselves. 

We have said, we think our little gifts, administered by 
Missionary hands, have wiped away some tears. It is in a 
moral point of view, however, that they must be chiefly 
viewed. Let the Westminster Review continue to say if it 
will, that the so called Christianity of this day is more troubled 
about the barbarians of Borie Boda Gha, than it is at the sight 
of a family pining in want at the next door ; let it say so if it 
will, nay let the scorner delight in his scorning everywhere, 
but lay us a telegraphic wire from each of the many hearts 
that have been the recipients of our tiny gifts, and though 
we could not read the language of either Palestine or Ceylon, 
of either Madura or Koordistan, yet the sounds and sights 



T%vo HiindredtJi Anniversary. 183 

of human woe can be understood any where, and we shall 
not ask the Westminster Review whether we may be satisfied. 
We may not even know the names of half the Micronesian 
Islands, but we helped to sail the Morning Star among them, 
and in an important sense, those islands are our islands. We 
have sent a hundred volumes to a destitute Sabbath School 
six miles from Marietta, and another Library to Moss Run, 
both in Ohio : — a library to Bliven's Mills in Northern Illinois, 
a set of Pulpit furniture for the meeting-house at Isle au 
Haute, with a full supply of Catechisms for the Sabbath 
School at that lone island, a $25 Library to Illinois, an equal 
one where the books were read on the Mountains of Persia, 
and around the grave of Henry Martyn, a $20 Library for 
Seamen, a $20 Library to Illinois, $17 to Madame Feller's 
Mission in Canada, a Library to Bloomington, where the 
Mormon Stakes were up. We have made eighteen of our 
teachers members of the . Massachusetts Sabbath School 
Society by the payment of ten dollars each, the whole amount 
having been expended by that Society. A Library has been 
sent to our Sooty cousins on the Coast of Africa. A token 
of sympathy of $17 to the founder of the Sabbath School 
then ill with a broken limb. 

We have put $90 into the hands of the Sabbath School 
Union thus constituting three members of the school, mem- 
bers of that Society, the whole amount being expended by 
that Society in carrying on their operations. 

And while allusion has been made to some things done or 
attempted by the school abroad, it may not be improper to 
refer to some of its operations at home. It was in 1842, 
that we contemplated procuring a Bible for the then new 
Pulpit. It was our custom in those years to decide /;/ advance 
upon the number of Sabbaths we would contribute to a given 
object, and not to exceed that time in any case. But we had 
set the time too short for the Bible and it was laid here by 
other hands. 



184 Congregational ChurcJi and Parish, Essex. 

The Church Clock, however, in the same year was the gift 
of the Sabbath School, at the cost of $40 — as well as $50 
worth of Organ pipes in 1854. 

These two sums are included in the $1015 contributed 
during the last fifteen years, but the avails of the two dona- 
tion visits to a house of sickness (where the fig tree did not 
blossom) amounting in all to somewhat more than $100, was 
not so included, neither was the gift next to be mentioned. 

Three little girls once taken up in a remote part of the 
town to ride a little way, though not then members of the 
Sabbath School yet because they said they were going to be, 
did more to give us courage than their little hearts could well 
conceive. This was incidental; but in what suitable words 
shall I, or can I, acknowledge the intended expression of 
gushing good will, with which the School surprised me on 
the second Sabbath of June 1857, when they put in my un- 
worthy hands a rich collection of books, accompanied by a 
beautiful donation speech uttered by Susan E. Andrews, but 
written as I had afterwards reason to believe by the lamented 
wife of our kind Pastor ! 

If ever, during the labors of the last seven years, I have 
felt a moments weariness in this glorious work I have only 
to look at those Books. One of them alone contains the 
Biography of 2300 distinguished men and women of our 
own country, and there are few of them all whose example 
is not enough "to hang sorrow, and drive away care !" Then 
open Kitto's Cyclopedia of the Bible, of near 2000 pages 
more, written by forty independent minds, all men of great 
Bible Knowledge, and all Baptized with the Holy Ghost. And 
again, if for variety, I wish to take a voyage among the eter- 
nal snows of an Arctic Winter, I have but to look into 
Doctor Kane's great Books of Travels, all which books, dear 
friends, your love has made my own. 

TOPICS. 

As we have made so sparing a use of the Question book, 



Tivo Hundredth Aiuiivcrsary. 185 

having had but one for thirty-two years excepting the Cate- 
chism monthly, I feel that it may be proper to refer more 
particularly to the topics studied than would be othewise nec- 
essary. Without giving at this time more than a brief spec- 
imen, it may be mentioned, that we endeavor, both in the 
classes and at the General Exercise to enforce and explain 
the lesson, both by precept, and by anecdote. The Com- 
mandments have received a large share of attention. 

Perhaps violations of the 8th Comnandment are in the 
country, as common as any, especially in the long fruit season. 
It seems a harsh doctrine, but we feel compelled to say that 
the seeds of dishonesty are sown in all our hearts. We first 
covet. Here we teachers must begin to fight ourselves, and 
arm the children to fight in this dreadful, though unbloody 
field. The Rev. Mr. Hildreth once told us, when illustrating 
the inveteracy of this sin, that when a confirmed thief was 
executed in England, he was by some mistake taken from 
the gallows before life was quite extinct, and removed to the 
dissecting room of the anatomist. When the surgeons after- 
wards entered, they found the thief alive and actively search- 
ing the room for something to steal ! thus showing the ruling 
passion not only strong in death, but after death. No change 
had been effected in his character by what was supposed to 
be a change of worlds. 

The Sixth Commandment opens the question relating to 
Capital punishment. How important to meet the terrible 
fallacies of our day on this subject ! How much is )'ct to be 
done to get up a correct public sentiment. William Goode 
the vagrant or drunkard may be sent to the house of Correc- 
tion and nobody complains, but William Goode the murderer 
had thousands of sympathizing friends. 

A father gives his son a severe whipping for dulling his axe 
or plane-iron, and nobody cares, but Daniel A. Reardon may 
murder his wife and twin babes, and after a few months of 
imprisonment, the flickering, uncertain and impulsive public 



1 86 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

will run over the whole Commonwealth with petitions for his 
pardon. 

And when we recollect the names of the two distinguished 
men, who have recently knocked at the Council Chamber 
door, demanding a murderer's pardon, and especially when 
the Chief Magistrate in 1862, publicly deplored the presence 
of the Death penalty on the Statute Book, is it not a wonder 
that Edward Green is not walking in the streets of Maiden 
to-day; or perhaps doing up his unfinished business at the 
bank! 

How glorious an institution is the Sabbath School inasmuch 
as it affords the lay element an opportunity to step forth for 
the defence of the institutions of our holy religion. I find a 
record of the fact that on one bright clear Sabbath day in 
July, in our own town, a wagon load of hay was unloaded in 
sight of the children, and all others on their way to or from 
the House of God. How important to hold up the fourth 
Commandment before the child's mind. And how I love to 
contemplate a Statesman or Politician planting his foot for 
the defence of the Sabbath ! I have just now in mind the 
memorable fact that in the year 1844, when many religious 
institutions were in danger, and some for a time seemed laid 
waste, and when our own Legislature was gravely petitioned 
to pass a Law witJuirawing all protectio7i front public worship 
on the Sabbath, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee (Mr. 
Saltonstall) told the petitioners to take their miserable paper 
away ! 

In selecting topics according to taste or inclination it would 
be almost natural \.o study the case of Annanias and Sapphira 
struck dead with a lie upon their tongue. Of Nadab and 
Abihu who died for offering strange fire, and the men of 
Bethshemesh who died on the spot for looking into the ark. 
But all this while we find it important to guard all minds 
against the idea that this world is the place of retribution, 
that all men here receive the due reward of their deeds. 



Tzvo Hundredth Anniversary. 187 

Not every blasphemer is a Merton Smith, after whose oaths 
his tongue becomes paralyzed, and his mind becomes idiotic. 
The book of God's providence is to be studied as well as 
His Word, and the Sabbath School teacher should not fail to 
draw lessons from passing events and also learn to draw con- 
clusions cautiously. 

A bold infidel in Ohio built a house in 1847, and all the 
glass of that house was set on the Sabbath by his own impious 
hand. He wanted, he said, to live long enough to dedicate 
it with a ball, and so he did. "And there was a sound of 
revelry by night, and music arose with its voluptuous swell." 
But hardly had that music died away, when the Lord blasted 
the life and the house of that Atheist man, and the next 
morning's sun revealed the fact that every pane of that Sun- 
day set glass was a broken pane, as well as the more terrible 
fact that the owner Jiad danced his last dance. 

But as if to keep us humble learners in the Saviour's school 
and to prevent our drawing hasty conclusions, God's Provi- 
dence also teaches us that He sometimes waits and allows the 
potsherds of the earth to contend with their Maker. 

Soon after reading of the scene in Ohio in the Home Mis- 
sionary, while riding in Boston, I noticed a Bookstore with 
the gilded lettering, "Infidel Books at wholesale and retail." 
More triflers go down to death from that place, than danced 
upon the floors of the infidel's house on its first and last night, 
I apprehend, yet it pleased the Lord to destroy the less, and 
let the greater live ! 

Here is a field for the Sabbath School teacher showing 
that as a Great Sovereign, God may choose his own time and 
way for punishing the wicked as well as rewarding the good. 
In 1863, we spent considerable time upon the subject of 
the Sabbath, to which reference has already been made, and 
following that, a subject never before given out in the Sab- 
bath School. Marriage, we considered as the state to which 
with few exceptions, the human family have glanced an eye 



1 88 Congregational ClinrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

forward with more or less intensity, from a comparatively 
early age, indeed ever since the time when "Eve stood blush- 
ing in her fig-leaf suit." It is an institution older than the 
Sabbath itself. The leading idea however, enforced in the 
school related to the example of the parties at Cana in Gallilee, 
in inviting Jesns and his diseiples to the marriage. There are 
those in the world who are rarely found among the people of 
God and more seldom still, among his ministers, and it is 
sometimes more agreeable to them, to have the civil Magistrate 
solemnize tlie marriage. (I have been called more than once 
to perform the ceremony). These are usually those who 
have no seat in God's house, and no Sabbath day to keep 
holy. I can almost understand how a maji of iron, can come 
to prefer that no minister shall be present at either the bridal 
festivity or the funeral -solemnity; but how the tender heart 
of a blushing bride could give her consent I cannot under- 
stand, and without that consent, you know, the door to mar- 
ried life is closed. Can any one doubt the propriety of giving 
this topic a place in the instructions of the Sabbath School? 
Can any one doubt that this is the place in which to plead 
that on the bridal day of life, whenever that day shall come, 
both Jesns may be ealled and his ministers to the marriage'^ 
Upon this topic the pulpit does- not often speak, but the Sab- 
bath School Teacher may. I have as yet seen no cause to 
regret that for once the mind of the School was turned dis- 
tinctly, and not incidentally to this topic. 

Neither have I ever yet regretted reading the story of Bertha 
and her Baptism by Dr. Nehemiah Adams, and remarking 
upon it with perfect freedom not because young ladies, while 
residing in our community are particularly liable to the dan- 
gers which Bertha encountered, when contemplating the mar- 
riage state. But many of our school have gone abroad and 
many more may go. 

A teacher suggested a few weeks since that this occasion 
would afford a convenient opportunit}' for examining the 



Tivo Hundredth Anniversary. 189 

question which still continues to agitate the public mind, 
whether the Sabbath School has not innocently and uncon- 
ciously but ejfectually lessened family religious training. There 
is time for hardly a remark upon this point. The attention 
which I have been able to bestow upon it, however is grad- 
ually leading me to the conclusion that with many brilliant 
exceptions, family instruction was never so nniversally prac- 
ticed even in New England as to leave no room for the Sab- 
bath School. That the live oak timbers of multiudes of our 
youth were salted on the stocks and "seasoned with the in- 
corruptible word that liveth and abideth forever," the whole 
New England character abundantly proves. But that even 
family religion might wot fall into decay can hardly be doubted, 
since even in the household of holy Eli you find a neglect- 
ed Hophni and Phinehas. In the absence of direct proof, 
something may be inferred from other sources. Our church 
records show, that in 1782, one year only, by an interesting 
coincidence, after Robert Raikes began his glorious Sabbath 
School career in England, the Rev. John Cleavcland, then 
our Pastor, and his church, saw the necessity of a similar 
measure here. The Church requested the Pastor, and Elders, 
"to consult and report a plan for districting the Families of 
the Parish for Catechising &c." It originated with Mr. 
Cleaveland of course. It was brought forward, on 17 June, 
in that year. The plan was to be reported August 28, but 
"the day was rainy, and but few present." On the first of 
September, same year however, the plan for districting the 
parish for Catechising %ic., was read and discussed and unan- 
imously adopted. I now stop to ask, why was all this nec- 
essary, if family religion was in that healthy condition that 
the modern objection to Sabbath Schools implies? Why 
was it necessary that pastor Cleaveland should come down 
from his study to catechise the children of the parish on a 
week day, walking through old Chebacco with the Bible in 
one hand, and Catechism in the other, leaving him time to 



190 Congregational CJuirch and Parish, Essex. 

write his sermons upon two little leaves only, of the size of a 
man's hand ? Why I say was all this necessary, if the FAMILY 
was doing all it should have done, and this so soon after that 
Great Revival which brought one hundred into the church 
within six months. 

That Deacons Seth Story, Senior and Junior, and Deacon 
Zachery Story, brother of the latter, used to catechise their 
children, there can be no doubt for their descendants like their 
sepulchres are with us unto this day. But that "Ginny John," 
catechised his, the very nick-name that has come down to us, 
seems to make doubtful unless the question was, why they 
drank so much of the liquor and left so little for him. And 

whether even Tinker I should have been much given to it 

among his, may be questionable, though we are pleasantly 
told, he used to see dreams and hear visions. 

The importance of family training was felt and practised 
in very unequal degrees by different families, some over-doing 
as Cecil says was a common puritanic fault, and others 
.under-doing, probably still more common. May it not 
have been a part of the true mission of the Sabbath School 
to equalize that family training. "William," said a father in 
this neighborhood, and who was led about the time the Sab- 
bath School was started, to think he might have been a little 
remiss in duty, "W^illiam, who made all things?" If William 
had ever been told, he just then forgot, and instead of saying 

God, named the best man he knew of one of our 

Deacons ! ! 

A mother, on the other h'and, determined that the sin of 
remissness, should not be laid to her charge, and as usual 
began on Sabbath evening, "Mary, who was the first man?" 
Mary, who was perfectly tired of her repeated embassies to 
the garden of Eden, replied once for all by saying, "Adam 
and Eve." Here there are examples of excessive family 
training in one house, and the utter destitution of it in another, 
both within a very short distance, and in one case the father, 



T%vd Hundredth Anniversary. 191 

grand-father, and great grand-father of httle Wihiam, were 
all Mr. Cleaveland's constant hearers, and two of them mem- 
bers of his church. 

I am driven, therefore, to the conclusion, that the Sabbath 
School was a Necessity, both in England and America. In 
England, to stay the open desecration of the Sabbath, and 
in our country to hold up fainting parental hands where they 
were already up, and to help raise them where they were 
not. (Having referred to the founding of Sabbath Schools in 
England, I deem it but an act of justice to say that Rev. Mr. 
Stock acted with Raikes conjointly in the Sabbath School 
enterprise.) 

The world seems full of facts, going to show the importance 
of bending the twig just as the tree ought to be inclined. O 
what an opportunity Sabbath School teachers have to take 
up and finish the parents unfinisJied or neglected work. It 
would be a monster of a mother who should fail to teach her 
lisping babe to say, "Now I lay me down to sleep," &c., and 
to the credit of all who intrust their children here, I may 
say, that of about two hundred present some years ago, there 
were not more than three, and I think but two, who did not 
know those four lines. But I equally well remember that 
not one of all that two hundred, could tell %i.dien they learned 
to say them. This beautiful prayer had been breathed into 
their ears by maternal lips, during the unconscious days of 
infancy. The great parental error was to stop too soon. 

Whatever we may think of it, the minds of children are 
often made up even on the doetrines of the Bible, before we 
know it. When speaking of the Catechism, the infidel Parker 
said he trod the abominable thing under foot before he had 
seen his seventh birth day, and long before that time says 
this redoubtable, though baby theologian, "the doctrine of 
the Trinity, and that of a wrathful God, had gone the same 
road. Since then," says he, "I have had no desire for the nar- 
row heaven, nor fears of the roomv hell of which men talk." 



192 Congregational ChtwcJi and Parish, Essex. 

Not every mind, I admit, is capable of a course so awful ; 
but it is always dangerous to neglect a child, while it is emi- 
nently hopeful to lead him in the way in which he should go. 

But I must pass over much in order to refer to two or three 
years more, as briefly however as their importance will admit. 

1849. The events, distinguishing this year, and which 
made it somewhat memorable, were that of committing and 
reciting the Assembly's Catechism at foiir ox fewer lessons 
without the variation of a word or the least help from the 
teacher, together with the outpouring of God's Spirit, that 
so immediately and remarkably followed. Let it however 
here be distinctly said, and once for all, that it is to the preach- 
ing of the gospel by the ministers of Christ, that ive must ever 
look as God' s great instrumentality for the conversion of sonls; 
and any reliance on Sabbath School agency, or any other agency 
to the exclusion of preachiiig, God will never own, but He will 
in some zvay froivn upon it, as he thindered upon the Egyptians 
with a very great thunder. But He condescends to allow 
other means, as family instruction, and we may add, the Sab- 
bath School. We began to entertain a strong desire to have 
the school thoroughly acquainted with that glorious formula 
of the doctrines of the gospel, the Catechism, and on appeal- 
ing to the church for pecuniary aid, the church responded 
and authorised us to draw upon their treasury for such sums 
as should be needful for putting an English clasp Bible into 
the hands of all who should be entitled to it. On the third 
Sabbath in September a specimen Bible was held up before 
the School, and the conditions of receiving it were stated. 
Some said the church never need fear that they should have 
many Bibles to pay for on such conditions ; but the soul of 
the school was fired ; and on the second Sabbath in October, 
it was ascertained that sixty-five had commenced repeating 
the Catechism for the grand reward of the grandest effort 
ever put forth in the town. The conditiojis zvere indeed strin- 
gent. It was accomplished with many tears on the part of 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 193 

the learners. It also cost the teachers tears, to say, at the 
end of twenty-seven answers, "there was an error or two, 
but I must not tell you where. Go over the whole again." 
But with some exceptions, all who began, succeeded. The 
minister and the church were gratified. Parents smiled. 
The children smiled. But our crowning joy was, we thought 
the Lord from heaven smiled. 

On the second Sabbath in December, the record of the 
Sabbath School states that twenty had finished the Catechism 
and were entitled to the Bible. That Bible, with the receiv- 
er's name engraved upon the clasp, was delivered publicly, 
with much thanksgiving to Almighty God, and many prayers 
for His blessing to follow. Those thanksgivings, we think, 
were accepted, and those prayers heard, and that blessing 
followed. On the first Sabbath in December, a memorandum 
on our records says, much interest in religion has appeared 
in -the Sabbath School within a week. Four in one class, are 
entertaining hope. Between twenty and thirty met last even- 
ing in two different places for prayers, seeking the Lord. 
Indeed, the appearance of the school was so changed, so 
solemn, that we could not help exclaiming, "this is the Lord, 
we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his 
salvation." One extract more from the same memorandum 
says, "It was mentioned two or three Sabbaths ago, that a 
member of the school had hopefully passed from death unto 
life. Last Sabbath another, whose sins were many, hopes they 
are now forgiven, and next day another tongue broke out in 
unknown strains and sung surprising grace. Since that time 
many hearts have yielded the controversy with God. Some 
families have kept such a thanksgiving as they had never kept 
before. The kingdom of heaven seemed to suffer violence, 
and the violent seemed to take it by force. 

On the third Sabbath in December, being but two and a 
half months from the time when the offer was made, forty- 
two Bibles had been delivered. The whole number to the 
present time is one hundred and seventy-eight. 



194 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

We have sometimes called 1849, our happy year. All, 
certainly, were not so, fezu, indeed, were like it. The year 
1855 contrasted strongly. Our numbers diminished that year, 
while neighboring schools increased. The attractions about 
town were too much for the Sabbath School. The river and 
the roads seemed scarred with sin. One boy, who left us, 
said he had got all the good there was to be had, he thought. 
Another said he had as lief go to hell as to the Sabbath School, 
and a third when asked by his teacher if he thought he could 
endure the judgment of the great day, boldly answered, yes! 
We know Dr. L. Beecher's rule, that such boys should never 
be allowed to leave, but should be publicly expelled. But we 
were afraid. Our tears became our sorrowful meat. The 
cloud at length however gradually lifted. These distinguished 
Boston friends had more to do with lifting that cloud than 
they have ever yet known of. Through their agency, Massa- 
chusetts and New York shook hands together that year in the 
Crystal Palace, and the recollection of what we there heard 
and saw, chased all our tears and our fears away together. 

INFANT DEPARTMENT. 

Our infant department was formed and organized as a 
branch of the main school, on the first Sabbath of May 
1859. It consisted at that time of thirty-two members, Mrs. 
Caleb Cogswell, teacher, assisted for a time by Miss Mary S. 
Spoftbrd. Mrs. Cogswell continued to conduct the depart- 
ment with excellent success until she left for a year's residence 
in Minnesota. 

It was determined that this department should begin at the 
beginning; that the first question should be, "Who was the 
first man; and the second, who was the first luonianf and to 
follow in the train of the book, which gives us these facts. 
Because, that same first man, by his Fall, lost communion with 
God, and came under his wrath and curse ; and as by that one 
man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, the children 
could begin to understand why so many little tombstones 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 195 

were decking the burial ground in the spring of that year; 
why some thirty weeping fathers had just then built their 
children's tombs. It was all because of the fall of man, that 
he and all his long posterity must die. 

The late lamented Mrs. Bacon commenced teaching in the 
Infant Department, on the 17th of June i860, Miss M. S. 
Spofford having found her health insufficient. The number 
had now increased to forty-eight. Mrs. Bacon conducted the 
department as her predecessor had done, with great success. 
Her manner of teaching, said a writer in the religious Papers, 
"was, like herself, affectionate and persuasive in the highest 
degree." Her labors ended only with her life. Blessed are 
the dead who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their 
labors, and their works do follow them. She died on the 
31st of January, 1863. 

From this time, 31st of January, 1863 Miss Maria W. 
Crowell heard the class as frequently as she was able, until 
the first Sabbath in July, when her waning health forbade 
her meeting with them any longer. She died on the four- 
teenth of November, having often spoken of the children 
with the deepest affection and many prayers. After the 
teacher's chair was vacated by Miss Crowell, it became occu- 
pied by the present incumbent, and now numbers ninety-one 
members, a great advance upon anything before. 

It is, I presume, within our recollection that extensive 
blessings attended the preaching of the word and other means 
of grace in 1858. Our teachers felt it then, as in former 
years, only more so, to be their sweet and solemn duty to 
point to heaven and lead the way; to talk much of Christ 
and Him crucified ; to pour forth their thoughts of that won- 
drous One; His life; His death; His everlasting presence, 
and His power to save. 

With curiously critical teaching we felt that we had but 
little to do. The Boston Review tells us that the word Uzzen 
Sherah occurs but once in the Bible, but that important mat- 



196 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

ters were connected with it. But we thought the salvation of 
the soul should transcend all other considerations. This was 
in that remarkable year, when the most extensive revivals of 
religion, ever known in our country or in Europe, were in 
progress; and it was now that the third outpouring of God's 
Spirit was experienced in our Sabbath School. Thirty-one, 
in the judgment of charity, passed from death unto life, and 
on the first Sabbath in July following, twenty-seven of them 
publicly professed their faith in Christ. Some others have 
followed since. We could but say as on a similar occasion 
in 1849 ; This too is the Lord : we have again waited for Him, 
and He has again come to bless us. O, that we could add, 
every one of us, in turning us away from our iniquities. 

In bringing these somewhat disconnected thoughts to a 
close, I cannot allow myself to forget the obligations that our 
church and the rising generation are under: ist, to the late 
Robert Crowell D.D. who founded this Sabbath School, and 
held it up so long by its infant hand. 2d, To our present 
pastor whose wakeful eye is upon the school with the same 
anxious assiduity, and whose presence is always sunshine in 
the school. 3d, To its first Superintendent for twelve to 
fifteen years, and who not long after collected \.\\.g Jirst of our 
eight adidt classes; who has never failed of meeting that class 
on any but sick days, and those but few indeed, and who now 
in vigorous age, still stands up before some twenty adult 
members every Sabbath day "for to read" and expound ; and 
4th, to the long line of teachers for fifty years, both the living 
and the dead. 

When I have been sometimes looking at the toivn schools, 
I have said to myself, how much good a teacher does that 
he is never paid for ! for the interest taken ! for the plans 
laid in the wakeful hours of night, all centering in the school 
room ! midnight reviews of yesterday's work, or to-morrow's 
designs ! But how insignificant all this becomes, when laid 
alongside of the debt which the rising generation owe to 



Tzvo HiindrcdtJi Anniversary. 197 

faithful teachers in the Sabbath Schools. I am free to own, 
that I have often received more pain than pleasure, at some 
State, or other large Convention, when the speakers have 
been laying heavy burdens upon teachers' shoulders, as I 
thought already deeply loaded, almost requiring them, if I 
may change the figure, not merely to "roll away the stone," 
but to bring the sleeping Lazarus forth ! If by the use of 
that bad word unpaid, or unrequited labor in the Sabbath 
School, I have raised the thought in any mind that teachers 
should be paid, let me say, the Sabbath School system will 
no more bear the touch of selfishness or pay, than, as Mary 
Lyon said, the Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary would, where 
it is known that every Trustee or committee man tvho took pay 
for service had but one short step from the quarter-deck over 
the Ship's side. Sabbath School labor will not bear pay, I 
refer of course to labor in the school room. 

If the American Churches owe that debt of gratitude to 
the 300,000 Sabbath School teachers which all great and 
good men say they do, then dear fellow teachers of this our 
Essex branch, a proportionate share is due to you. Your 
instructions have fallen upon seven hundred or a thousand 
minds. Your hands, I speak collectively of all the past as 
well as the present laborers in the field, have done what they 
could to fill these minds with God's word. And as the skill 
of the operator in our city churches, by one stroke of his art, 
lights a hundred lamps in an instant, so, says Dr. Nehemiah 
Adams, regeneration will convert the knowledge of the Sab- 
bath School child, at once into a source of pleasure unspeak- 
able. 

In allusion then to the Marriage at Cana, I would use the 
words of the Great Guest and say, "Fill ye then the water 
pots with water, /// to the brim." Christ is near by, and can 
change that water all into wine in a moment. 

Travellers tell us, that beautiful rivers, golden rivers, some- 
times disappear under a burning sky, and seem lost in the 



198 Congregational ClinrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

sands, but you are sure to find them again bursting out in a 
more congenial clime, and thence rolling onward to the sea. 
So mental philosophers tell us, "the mind never forgets. The 
delicate tracery of early impressions may be lost a while 
under the sterner stamps of maturer years, but it is all there." 
Therefore, disheartened TEACHERS, SUPERINTENDENTS once 
of us, but now in more extensive fields of labor, dear Pastor 
of our own church, Life long laborers present, whose Sabbath 
School is the Commonwealth, Ministers, and men of God who 
gladden us with your presence to-day, "THEREFORE, I say, 
let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season ye shall 
reap if ye faint not." 



A. 

May 28. 1679. In ans. to the petition of the inhabitants of Chebacho, 
Wm. Cogswell, Sen., Robt. Crosse, Sen., William Story, &c., upon a full 
hearing of the Chebacho case, the Court judge, the petitioners of Chebacho 
have offended the council, in going expreslj contrary to their aduise, in 
errecting a meeting house; which they order them imediately to acknowl- 
edge, & humble themselues for; as also, wherein they have justly offended 
the officers & church of Ipsuich, wee order them seriously to apply them- 
selues to the church for reconciliation; which being doun, doe grant them 
libertv to procure a minister, to be helpfull to them in the worke of the min- 
istrv, provided he be pious, able, & orthodox, as the law directs, with the 
aduise of the following comittee, i.e., Joseph Dudley, Esq., Major Richard 
Waldron, Mr. Anthony Stoddard. Mr. Henry Bartholmew, & Leift. Wm. 
Johnson, who are appointed to be a comittee for that alYaire, & are desired 
to meete on the place at the peticoners charge & request. & to heare theire 
allegations, & the allegations of some deputed by the toune of Ipsuich, 
referring to the accomodations of others of their inhabitants, & fynally to 
determine the place of errecting a meeting house that may be most acomo- 
dable for them; & all cases depending in Courts referring to this matter 
doe cease, & the Chebacho men are to pay tenn pounds for this Courts 
costs. As an addition or explanation of the order to Chebacho men, it is 
hereby ordered, that such of them as are delinquents, in errecting a meeting 
house there contrary to the aduise & prohibition of the council, & are 

sumoned to Salem Court, to ans. their say'd contempt, doe there make 
their acknowledgments in theise words, viz., that they are convinced that 
thev have offended in so doing; for which they are sorry, & pray it may be 
forgiven them, & so to be dismissed with out any further trouble, charge, 

or attendance in that respect, or further attendance on the council for 

that their offence. 

The Report of the Committee thus appointed, is as follows : 

Ipswich, Jebacco, July 23, 1679. 
The persons vnder written being a comittee of the honnorble General 

Court, as by their order, dated May 28, 1679, for the setlemenl of the buis- 

nes of Jebacco, touching the place of publick worship amoungst them, & 

the setlement of a minister in that part of the toune for their acomodation 



200 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

in the worship of God & proppogation of religion amongst them, as in 
saj'd order is particcularly recited, — 

The say'd persons mette vpon the place, die supradicto, & there found 
present the peticoners & other inhabitants of say'd Jebacco, as also otiiers 
that were deputed by the toune of Ipsuich to ofter something refterring to 
the acomodation of others of their inhabitants, & vpon a full hearing & 
serious consideration of what was offered & pleaded by both parties, doe 
find the p'sons, peticon's & others, ye inhabitants there, haue attended the 
order of the honnorable Gennerall Court, in humbly acknowledging their 
fault, in going contrary to the advice of the honnorable council, & in 
giving sattisfaction to the offended church of Ipsuich, which, was allowed 
& attested by some of the reuerend elders, & other persons of credit mem- 
bers of the say'd church, & therefor doe conclude, — 

(ist.) Refferring to the place of the meeting house, that though a remoove 
of the house from the place at present designed by said Jebacho inhabitants, 
farther towards the toune of Ipsuich, might acomodate some more of the 
inhabitants, iSt farmers of say'd toune, yet, perceiving that the number 
offering themselues are competent for such a setlement, & those at the head 
& on the other side of sa3''d river of Jebacho will be much disadvantaged 
thereby, who were the first agreived & petitioning partye, that therefore 
the place where the house now standeth be & is heereby allowed by us, & 
that they haue liberty to proceede to the finishing of the say'd meeting 
house for their comfort & setlement. 

(2dly.) Refterring to the setlement of a pious, able, & orthodoxe minis- 
ter amongst them for the due mannagement of the worship of God, wee 
find that the persons, inhabitants of Jebacho, who are like to be a joint society 
in this setlement, should seriously consider with themselues, with invoca- 
tion of God's name, of some meete person, able, learned & pious, that may 
be fitt to mannage the publick worshipp of God amongst them, some time 
betweene this & Tuesday, the day before the session of the Gennerall Court, 
in October next, vnto which time the comittee doe adjorne themselues 
there, to meet in Boston, there to give their approbation vnto such person 
for the minister to setle amongst them, earnestly entreating & advising 
them in the meanetime to lay aside all animosity, & to take such advice as 
may be beneficiall for their future setlement & good accord. 

May 22th, 1680. The comittee aboue written mett accordingly, & the 
inhabitants of said Chebacho presented Mr. John Wise as a person vpon 
whom they have vnanimouslv agreed \pon for their minister, who is accep- 
table to us. 

B. 

LIST OF BOOKS OWNED BY THEOPHILUS PICKERING. 

List of some of the books owned by the Reverend Theophilus Pickering 

still preserved and bearing his name and the date within ; furnished 

by Miss Mary O. Pickering of Salem, who also communicated the facts 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 201 

of Mr. Pickering's family and of his life prior to his settlement in Che- 
bacco, which are mentioned in the Discourse. 

'T. P. 1719.' Compendium Theologiae Christianae, Authore Johanne 

Wollebio ss. Th. D. & in Acad. Basil Profess. Ord. Am- 

stelodami d':) iDoxxxxii. 
'T. P. 1716.' Book of Common Prayer i2mo. London, 1713. 
'T. P. 1716.' Physico-Theologj or Demonstration of the Being and 

Attributes of God from his Works of Creation by W. 

Derham, Rector of Upminster in Essex and F. R. S. Lon- 
don, 1716. 
'T. P. 17 18.' Astro-Theology, or a Demonstration of the Being and 

Attributes of God, from a survey of the Heavens, by W. 

Derham &c., London 1715. 
'T. P. 171S.' The Whole Duty of Man &c.,— with Private Devotions—, 

London 1710. 
'T. P. 1719.' Brerewood's Survey of the Languages in the World, and 

of the various sorts of religion therein — umo. i6n. 
'T. P. 1721-2.' Psalterium Americanum, by Cotton Mather. Boston, 1718. 
'T. P. 17-4.' The Jesuits Morals — by aDoctor of the Colledge of Sorbon 

in Paris — translated from the French: folio, London; 

1670. 
'T. P. I7-4-' Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity — folio: London, 1611. 
'T. P. 1724.' Howel's History — An Institution of General History, 

from the beginning of the World to the Monarchy of Con- 

stantine the Great. By William Howel, M. A. Fellow of 

Magdalen College in Cambridge: folio, London, 1661. 
'T. P. 1743.' Fuller's Holy and Prophane States: folio, 1648. 

C. 

CHURCH ARTICLES OF FAITH. 

The Church Articles of Faith and Discipline of the newly-gathered 
Congregational Church of Christ at Chebacco in Ipswich. 

Whereas we the subscribers have seen it our Duty to congregate tSv: Em- 
body ourselves into a Church State ; & as we are of opinion : That a Lax 
admition into the Ministry, & a Lax admition into the Churches & want 
of Discipline are the Bane of Churches — 

We the subscribers, & each of us for himself, Do therefore oblige our- 
selves, & each of ourselves Respectively, by these Presents, to stand, to 
abide by, & be governed according unto, the following Articles of Faith 
and Church government, viz : 

ist. That we will have such oOicers as Christ Jesus has appointed & 
ordained in his holy word, viz : a Pastor or Pastors, Ruling Elders & Dea- 
cons : see I. Cor. 12, 28; i. Tim. 3, 2-10; i. 5, 17. 

2d. That no Person shall be admitted to either of said offices. Unless 
they have scripture qualifications Evidently appearing to the satisfaction 
of the Church. Titus i, 5-9; i. Tim. 3, 8-13. 

26 



202 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

3d. That the Church shall have the Sole power of electing & appoint- 
ing all the officers of the Church. Acts. 6, 3. 

4th. That the officers so elected shall be ordained to their several offi- 
ces bj Imposition of Hands. Acts. 6, 6; 14, 23. 

5th. That no Person shall be admitted as member of our Church, but 
such as shall give a particular account of a saving work of the spirit of 
God upon his or her soul, to the satisfaction of the Church; & upon sat- 
isfaction given to them, then the Person or Persons desiring to join with 
us shall be propounded, fourteen dajs at least before admition. And if 
no Reasonable matter of objection be made, then such persons may be 
admitted, as members of the Church & not otherwise. 11. Chron. 23, 19; 
I. Cor. II, 27, 28; I.John 1,3; 11. Cor. 13,5. 

6th. That upon admition of any member or members into the Church, 
the covenant with these Articles shall be read to the Person or Persons to 
be admitted, in the Presence of the Church, & upon their approving & 
consenting thereunto, they shall then sign the same immediately. Neh. 9, 
3; 10, 28, 29; Is. 46, 1-5. 

7th. That we will not admit of any Person to minister to us in holy 
things, who shall refuse to submit to an Examination of the state of his 
soul by such a number of the Brethren as the Church from time to time 
shall think fit to appoint; & shall give to them a satisfactory account of a 
work of grace wro't upon his soul ; who shall also sign these articles, 
before he shall be ordained to the Pastoral care of this Church, i. Pet. 3, 
15 ; Rev. 2,2; I. John 4, i ; Neh. 9, 38. 

8th. That no adult Person shall be admitted to Baptism without giving 
to the Church sufficient evidence of a work of grace wro't on his or 
her soul, & that the infants of none but such, the Parents of whom, or 
one at least, shall be in full communion with the Church, shall be admitted 
to Baptism. Mark 16, 16; Acts 2, 38, 39, 45; 8, 37; 10, 47, 48; i. Cor. 7, 
14. 

9th. That if any Member or Members shall walk inconsistently with 
the gospel, & their profession of Christ, they shall submit to such disci- 
pline as is agreeable to the word of God ; & upon their continuing impen- 
itent, & refusing to submit to such wholesome discipline as God's holy 
word enjoins, they shall be publickly excommunicated from our holy com- 
munion, until such time as they shall give credible manifestation of their 
repentance, i. Cor. 5, 11; Titus 3, 10; Matt. 18, 15-17. 

loth. That if any member or members of any other Church whatsoever 
(saving such churches as hold communion with us) not excepting against 
any denominations of Christians shall at any time desire to sit down with 
us at the Lord's table, they shall not be admitted unless they have been 
with the Pastor and one or more of the Elders, and given them sufficient 
satisfaction about a work of grace being wrought on his or her soul. i. 
Peter 3, 15; i. Cor. 11, 27, 28. 

nth. That the Pastor or Pastors with the assistance of the Ruling 
Elders shall be, and hereby are obliged to visit every respective Person 



Two HiuidvcdtJi Anniversary. 203 

belonging to the Church at least twice in a jear, and examine them in re- 
spect to their state, & growth in grace, i. Pet. 5, 10; Heb. 13, 17. 

I2th. That whenever the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper shall be admin- 
istered, after paying for the necessary piovision & furniture of the same, 
the remaining part of the collection that shall then be made shall be wholly 
& solely applied for the relief of the church, & for no other use whatsoever. 
Rom. 12, 12; I Tim. 6, 18, 19. 

13th. That neither Pastor nor Elders shall invite any Person to preach, 
until they are satisfyed that he has a work of grace wro't on his soul. 
I John 4, 3; Rev. 2, 2. 

14th. We believe that all the gifts & graces that are bestowed on any of 
the members, are to be improved for the good of the whole, in order to 
which there ought to be such a gospel freedom, whereby the Church may 
know where every particular. gift is, that it may be improved in its proper 
place, & to its right end, lor the glory of God, & for the good of the Church. 
Acts iS, 24, 25; Rom. 12, 6-8. 

iSth. The confession of faith agreed upon by .the Assembly of Divines 
at Westminster we fully agree to in every respect, as to the substance of 

the same. 

i6th. We would always have recourse to the Platform agreed upon by 
the Synod at Cambridge in New England. A.D. 164S; & for the fuller 
explanation of our own sentiments respecting Church discipline, &c. we 
will always be willing to be guided thereby with the following exceptions 
& emendations, viz : Chap, i, at the close of the ^th Section : Respecting 
human determinations upon times & places of Divine worship, being 
accounted as if they were Divine, we except against. C/iap. 4, Section 
4: Respecting a constant practice in meeting together for Publick worship 
& a subjection & silent consent to the ordinances of Christ, being suffi- 
cient to constitute a church, we except against. Chap. 6, Sec. 5 : We think 
Pastor & Teacher are not distinct officers, but both may reside in one Per- 
son. Chap. 7. Sec. 2 : The power of the Eldership respecting spiritual rule, 
we hold doth reside in them jointly & severally, & may be accordingly 

exercised. 

Chap. 10, Sec. 6 : Respecting the Direction of a Council being necessary 
in order for a Church to remove their Pastor, we do except against ; Sec. 8 : 
We iudge the Elders ought to call the Church together when desired by 
any on^ member, & whenever the church is mett, the brethren have a right 
one by one, (asking leave) to declare their mind, without interruption or 
hindrance, and that the Elders have no power to adjourn or dissolve meet- 
ings without a vote of the Church ; Sec. 13: Respecting the Elders having 
a negative voice, we except against, as not being founded upon the Scrip- 
tures. Chap. 13, Sec. 4. Respecting magistrates having a power to force 
people to contribute for the support of the gospel, we except against, being 
not intrusted with the support of the same; that the church have power to 
deal with all such as will not, if able, contribute to the support of the gos- 
pel, we hold, and also that by the Holy Scriptures, Gifts may be received 



204 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

but not forced from any without. Chaf.i^, Sec. 7. Upon that respecting 
Baptised Infants being in a more hopeful way of attaining Regenerating 
grace than others, we say : They have no more power to attain it them- 
selves than unbaptized ones. Chap. 14, Sec. 9. Respecting the lawfulness 
of a worthy member partaking with profane and scandalous persons, we 
except against. Chaf. 15, Sec. 2. Respecting the Churches calling in the 
Council of other Churches, we approve of, with this addition, viz. : when 
the church proceed to call a council, it does not in the least prevent or hin- 
der the third way of communion, if occasion require, after such council be 
dismissed. Chap. 17, Sec. 9. Respecting the magistrates having a coer- 
cive power, or right to punish a church that rends itself off from the 
Churches, being by them judged incorrigible and schismatick, we except 
against. 

17th. We think it our duty, and hereby each one of us doth for himself, 
oblige ourselves to pay towards the support of the Gospel amongst us, 
according to our respective abilities. I Cor. 9, 7 : I Tim. 5, 18; Gal. 6, 6. 

i8th. Lastly, that if notwithstanding our great care in the admition of 
a Pastor or Pastors, or other officers, any or either of them should deny or 
walk contrary to these Doctrines, and persist therein, then in such a case 
said Person, or Persons, shall no longer have any power or authority in 
the Church, but shall be, and hereby are, debarred therefrom, until mani- 
fest tokens of their Humiliation and Repentance. II John 7, 10; I Tim. i, 
17-20. 

Witness our hands which we now put in the presence of the great God, 
and a council of these Churches, viz. : one from Boston, and the other from 
Plainfield, this 22d day of May, Anno Domini 1746. 

Joseph Perkins, J.\mes Eveleth, 

Solomon Giddings, Jr., Thomas Choate, 

Thomas Choate, Jr., Francis Choate, 

Lemuel Giddings, Jacob Perkins, Jr. 

D. 

THE PRINCIPLES AND FUNDAMENTALS OF MR. JOHN 
CLEAVELAND'S FAITH. 

1. I believe that there is but one God, infinite, eternal and immutable 
in his Being, infinitely wise, just, holy, good, merciful, true and great; yea 
omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and omnivigilant, in his Divine 
Attributes and perfections; existing necessarily and independently, on 
whom depend all other existent Beings. 

2. I believe that in this undivided Godhead, there is a mysterious Trinity 
of subsistences or persons — Father, Son and Holy Ghost — one in sub- 
stance, co-equal, co-essential and co-eternal in power and glorj'. This is 
a mystery. I believe, but ca7i^t comprehend. 

3. I believe that this great and glorious God created all things, both 
material and immaterial for the Declaration, Manifestation and Display of 
his own Glory. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 205 

4. I believe that when God made man in his own image and likeness, 
(as he did), he endowed him with power to fulfill the conditions of the 
covenant of works that he was made under; that he was to have life upon 
his fulfilling said conditions; and that he was to act, not only for himself 
as a single person but for his whole Posterity as their public Head and 
Representative : so that they were to be sharers with him as he should suc- 
ceed, either well or ill. 

5. I believe that man being left to the freedom of his own will, by the 
instigation and seduction of Satan fell from that state of rectitude, holiness, 
Justice and innocence in which he was made, into a state of sin and misery, 
alienation and death, corporal, spiritual and eternal : 

That by this fall he lost communion with God, having the powers and 
faculties of his soul entirely polluted, vitiated, and filled with enmity against 
a holy God, and all true holiness; 

That hereby he with his whole posterity lost all power and will to do 
anything in the least pleasing to God; and had his mind so blinded as to 
call evil, good, and good, evil. 

6. I believe that God from all eternity was self-moved, out of his sov- 
ereign good will and pleasure, to elect and predestinate a certain particular 
and determinate number of Adam's posterity to Eternal Life ; and that 
God the Father entered into a compact and covenant of Redemption with 
the Son of his Love, to free them from a state of sin and misery and to 
bring them into a state of reconciliation, bliss and everlasting Glory: 

That in order that the Son of God should fulfill his engaged part in this 
Covenant, he took to himself (in a new relation by a hypostatical union) 
a soul and body of our human nature; and this Immanuel, being holy, 
harmless and undefiled, fully obeyed the Law actively, and entirely satisfied 
all its righteous demands, by his once offering up himself, a sacrifice to sat- 
isfy Divine Justice : 

That hereby he consecrated a way into the Holy of Holies by his own 
blood, that whosoever will, may come and take of the water of life freely, 
gratis : 

That hereby the way is opened for the descent of the Holy Ghost, to 
work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 

7. I believe that those and only those that are elect according to the 
foreknowledge of God, are in due time effectually called out of darkness 
into marvelous light, by the supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit: 

That thev be hereby convinced of actual and original sin and trans- 
gression — of the righteousness of God's holy law — the righteousness of 
God's sovereignty — and the necessity of a perfect and pure righteousness 
in order to stand before God in peace : 

That they are convinced by Divine illuminations of the completeness 
and suitableness of Christ's righteousness for persons in just such circum- 
stances as they are in : 

That bv the effectual power of the most high God, they arc brought to 
obev the call of God, in embracing Jesus Christ as their Prophet, Priest 



2o6 Cojigrcgational Church and Parish, Essex. 

and King, cordially acquiescing in and consenting to the way and terms of 
salvation through Christ. 

8. I believe that they are justified freely for the sake alone of the im- 
puted righteousness of Christ, received by faith without the deeds of the 
law in the least regard : 

That this faith is the gift wrought by the power of God in the soul (being 
the first act of the wew creature) ; and that Gospel repentance is concomi- 
tant with faith in time, and consequent upon it in the order of nature : 

That the evidences of justification are: i. Faith that works by love ; 
2. Sanctification in the Heart; 3. The Spirit of God witnessing with our 
spirit that we are the children of God. 

9. I believe that all justified persons are endowed with a spirit of adop- 
tion influencing them to cry Abba Fat/iet — My Lord and my God : 

That this adoption exists by virtue of their union to Jesus Christ their 
Head and husband, elder brother and joint heir: 

That their union to him is a mysterious divine union, being made one 
with him, yet so as he remains very God, and they very finite creatures as 
to the dignities of their persons or capacities or faculties. 

10. I believe that santification does begin in the souls of believers when 
the act of justification is passed in their souls (or that justification and the 
beginning of santification are instantaneous,) and is carried on progres- 
sively and perseveringly till they are made complete in holiness by the 
same Spirit that efl'ectually calls them : 

That they never will be complete in holiness, while in these mortal 
tabernacles of our fleshly bodies. 

11. I believe that true justifying faith is a living and not a dead faith, 
and is evidenced by good works (agreeably to the holy law of God, which 
I take to be the rule of the christian's life) flowing from a principle of life 
or Divine love : 

That no works are pleasing to God before faith in Jesus Christ, from us 
rebels ; and consequently God will graciously hear no prayers with delight 
which are not put up to him in faith, notwithstanding the high obligation 
there is upon all rational creatures to pray continually to God, whether 
converted or unconverted. 

12. T believe that Jesus Christ has an invisible church, his mystical 
body, made up of all the believers (or saints) in heaven and on earth. 

13. I believe that Jesus Christ has a visible church here below, made up 
of those that in the judgement of charity do believe with the heart and con- 
fess with the tongue — who visibly covenant and agree to walk in all the 
ordinances and commands of Christ blameless : 

That this church has power from Christ to choose such officers as he 
hath appointed to be in his church, viz. : Pastors, Ruling Elders and Dea- 
cons : 

That they are to be ordained and appointed to their several offices by im- 
position of hands; which power of ordination, Jesus Christ who is the 
true Head of his church has given to his churches as their privilege : 



Two Hundredth Anniversary . 207 

That everj member of this church is under obligation to use the gift 
given him by Christ for the edifying of the body : 

That such a church is to walk together in brotherly love, both officers 
and brethren, not seeking superiority and preeminence ; remembering that 
there is but one Head, even Christ Jesus, who is God blessed forever: 

That the members of such a church are to have a mutual watch over one 
another to stir up and exhort one another, to provoke to love and good 
works ; and that in case God should condescend to refresh his saints with 
the Heavenly gales of his overflowing love, so as with a shout of triumph 
they should be constrained to breathe out acclamations of praise to the 
Lamb of God, the whole should rejoice with them. 

14. I believe that there are but two sacraments to be observed in the 
Gospel church, viz. : Baptism and the Lord's Supper : 

That Baptism is to be administered to none but visible believers and their 
infant seed, and is an external initiating seal of the covenant of Grace : 

That the Lord's Supper belongs to all true believers in Christ that can 
act understandingly in the participation of it; and that it is designed as a 
means to refresh, comfort, establish, feed, nourish and confirm the saints 
of God in faith, love, humility and patience. 

15. I believe that the record of God in the Old and New Testaments, 
is in itself a perfect Rule, and in the hands of the Holy Spirit, leads and 
guides us to heaven : 

That it is life and spirit, marrow and fatness to the believing saint; that 
it contains great and precious promises in Christ for believers only, and 
awful and tremendous curses for all unbelievers, while such. 

i6. I believe in the resurrection of the just and the unjust, which will 
be at the final consummation of this world. 

17. I believe that we must all stand before the Bar of God to be tried 
for an endless eternity. 

iS. I believe that the saints at this decisive day will be openly acquitted 
and absolved from all sin, guilt and bondage, and be made perfectly blessed 
and happy in the full enjoyment of God to a whole eternity. 

19. I believe that Jesus Christ — the Lamb slain — will be the glorious 
judge of Qiiick and Dead. 

20. And lastly, I believe that at this great and awful day of inquisition 
or judgement, the wicked unbelievers and all ungodly men will receive from 
Christ their awful and final sentence of eternal condemnation, and shall be 
committed into the state of exquisite torment for ever and ever. 

E. 
MR. CLEAVELAND'S PETITION TO THE COLLEGE 
FACULTY. 
"To the Rev'd and llon'd Rector and Tutors of Yale College in New 
Haven. 

Rev'd and Hon'd : — 

It hath been a very great concern and trouble to me, that my conduct in 



2o8 Congregational ChnrcJi and Parish, Essex. 

the late vacancy has been such as not to maintain interest in your favor, 
and still retain the great privileges that 1 have enjoyed for three years past 
under your learned, wise and faithful instruction and government. Nothing 
of an outward nature can equally affect me with that of being hencefor- 
ward wholly secluded from the same. 

Hon'd Fathers, suffer me to lie at your feet, and entreat your compas- 
sionate forgiveness to an offending child wherein I have trangressed. 

Venerable Sirs : I entreat you, for your pastoral wisdom and clemency, 
to make in my case such kind allowance for the want of that penetration 
and solid judgment expected in riper heads — as tender parents are nat- 
urally disposed in respect of their weak children. But more especially I 
beg to be admitted in the humblest manner to suggest as a motive of your 
compassion to the ignorant — that I did not know it was a trangression of 
either the Laws of God, this Colony, or the College, for me as a member, 
and in covenant with a particular church, as is generally owned to be a 
church of Jesus Christ, to meet together with a major part of said church 
for social worship. And, therefore, do beg and entreat that my ignorance 
may be suffered to apologise. For in respect to that fact, which to riper 
heads may appear to be a real transgression, I can assure you, Venerable 
Sirs, that I have endeavored to keep and observe all the known laws, and 
customs of College unblamably. And I hope I shall for the future be en- 
abled so to do, if I may be restored to a standing again in my class. Thus 
begging your compassion, I subscribe your humble servant and obedient 
pupil, 

John Cleveland. 

New Haven, Nov. 26, 1744" 

The conclusion of the "Admonition" is as follows: 

"Whereupon it is considered and adjudged by Rector and Tutors, that 
the said John and Ebenezer Cleaveland, in withdrawing and separating 
from the public worship of God, and attending upon the preaching of a 
lay exhorter as aforesaid, have acted contrary to the laws of the Colony, 
and of the College, and that the said Cleavelands shall be publicly admon- 
ished for their faults aforesaid, and if they shall continue to justify them- 
selves, and refuse to make acknowledgment, they shall be expelled." 

F. 

EXTRACTS FROM MR. CLEAVELAND'S NARRATIVE OF 

THE REVIVAL OF 1763-64. 

Inasmuch as it hath pleased God, who is rich in mercy, to visit us of late, 
in these parts, with the gracious influences of his blessed Spirit, in the 
conviction and hopeful conversion of many persons; more especially in 
Chebacco, which belongs to Ipswich, of the province of the Massachusetts 
Bay : And as we are to declare God's doings among the people, and to make 
mention that his name is exalted ; I have some time had it in my heart, to 
give a short narrative of this work. 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 209 

The Public have, some j'ears since, been informed of the grounds and 
reasons of the people of my charge becoming a distinct worshipping 
assembly from the second church and parish in Ipswich, 

I was ordained their pastor, Feb. 25, O. S. 1747, by a Council of Congre- 
gational churches. The church I stand related to as pastor, in point of 
church discipline and government, is strictly congregational according to 
Cambridge Platform ; and in point of doctrine quite orthodox according to 
the New England, or Westminster Confession of Faith, or their catechisms. 
And in point of experimental religion, consists of such in general, (before 
the late work) as profess to have met with a change of heart in the time 
of the more general reformation, which was in 1742, and thereabouts : 
And altho' God never left us without witness of his gracious presence with 
us under the administration of gospel ordinances, and there were some 
few instances of hopeful conversions in the time of the general declension 
of Christians, yet we must acknowledge with shame, that we rendered not 
again according to the benefits done to us, but greatly lost our first love. 

Sometime in the month of October, this year (1763), the Rev. Mr. 
Francis Worcester came to preach to my people one Sabbath. He came 
early in the week and preached several lectures before the Sabbath and 
several after, and took his leave'of us with a lecture to young people; and 
as their attention was roused by his other discourses, divers things in this 
took such fast hold on their consciences, that they could not shake them oft". 

A little while after, I exchanged with the Rev. Mr. Samuel Chandler, of 
Gloucester, and as he understood there was a number of persons under 
awakenings in my congregation, he adapted his discourses to their case, 
and his preaching that day was own'd of God for the begetting convictions 
in some, and for increasing them in others. They now frequented our 
religious conference meetings, and at these, I had an opportunity of dis- 
coursing to them more particularly about the great concerns of their souls ; 
and once a week the young people assembled at the house of one of our 
deacons, (besides the weekly conference) when I had an opportunity of 
discoursing to them familiarly of their soul-concerns. 

In the afternoon, Mr. Parsons preached a very suitable sermon ; the 
meeting-house was as full of people as it could be; people came from the 
parishes all around us : There was a solemn silence thro' the whole assem- 
bly during the time of divine service, and a sacred awe on every counte- 
nance ; never did I see an assembly more solemn before! It was near nine 
o'clock this evening, before the people could be prevailed with to leave the 
meeting-house. As the people were now inclined to assemble for religious 
exercise, and their attention was roused, I appointed another lecture to be 
on Friday this weeek ; and from this time till the Spring business came on, 
we had two lectures in the meeting-house every week, on Tuesdays and 
Thursdays : The first was the most remarkable week I ever saw; and from 
that time to the Spring, our meeting-house was crowded as full as it could 
hold when we met, both on the Lord's days and week days. 

Divers persons from other towns and parishes, were bro't under concern, 

27 



2IO Congregational Church a)id Parish, Essex. 

viz. : from Ipswich-town and the Hamlet, Gloucester, Manchester, Beverly. 
Wenham, some from Topsfield, Rowley, Linebrook, Byfield, Newbury and 
Newburyport; and divers were hopefully converted. 

Divei"S ministers came over toour help, and preached on our lecture days. 
And there was not a sermon preached, as I could learn, but what was 
attended with the blessing of God, either to bring on conviction of sin in 
some, or to bring comfort to others ; that is, to bring some out of darkness 
into light, and to comfort and refresh such as had received light and com- 
fort before. 

As a considerable number of our young men, who were bro't under con- 
cern at the beginning of this work, remained under concern, exceedingly 
bowed down for divers weeks, we tho't it proper to turn our Tuesday lec- 
ture into a day of fasting and prayer for them, and for the pouring out of 
the Spirit upon all; and it was a remarkable day, some new instances of 
persons bro't under convictions, and several of these that had long been 
bowed down were made free, I trust, by the Son, so as to be free indeed. 
Towards the last of February, divers persons having signified their de- 
sire to make a public profession of Christ, and to be admitted into the 
church in full standing, I gave notice that the Elders of this Church would 
meet at my house, such a day, to hear and take down in writing, the gracious 
experiences of such as had a mind to be admitted members of this church. 
On the day appointed, such a number met as filled my house ; I began to 
write a little after ten o'clock in the morning, and never rose from the table 
till about sun-setting; I took down some of the most material things, in 
the experience of twenty and two persons, from their verbal relation to the 
Elders. Now I had an opportunity to judge of the nature of the work, 
and was surprised to hear what great things God had done for many, who 
were very carnal and vain but a few months before! When I arose from 
the table I went into another room, where the people were chiefly gathered, 
and it was as full as it could hold, and I stood astonished ! I never saw 
anything equal to it before ; the room appeared full of God ! Not a person 
to be seen but what was at prayer, either for themselves, or over some par- 
ticular person or other in distress. 

About a month after this, we took into the Church thirt}' and two per- 
sons more; and the whole number of those we admitted in the space of 
seven or eight months, was upwards of ninety, but above two-thirds of 
them were females. I have heard that the Rev. Mr. Parsons of Newbury- 
port, admitted about that time, upwards of fifty; and the Rev. Mr. Jewett 
of Rowley, about thirty; and the Rev. Mr. Chandler of Gloucester, a con- 
siderable number, but I have not heard how many. 

In the Fall of the year, and especially near that season of the year, that 
the work so remarkably began a twelve month before, there was not only a 
considerable revival of those who had received comfort; but several new 
instances of hopeful conversions, and divers bro't under convictions, who 
had been pretty secure, and the convictions of others revived. And the 
next day after the Anniversary Thanksgiving this year (1764) was kept by 



Tivo HiDidrcdth Anniversary. 211 

our congregation as a day of thanksgiving, for God's i-emarkably gracious 
visitation to us with his divine influences, the preceding year. 

G. 

PASSAGES FROM "CIIEBACCO NARRATIVE RESCUED, &c." 

Now view the separation at Chebacco, and see what they have done : and 
whether it deserves the name of a separation. Have they separated from 
the faith profess'd by these churches? No. they adhere close to it. Have 
they separated from the established rule of order, worship and discipline, 
of these churches? No, they have got nearer to them than ever; are more 
exact and careful (if not more conscientious too) than is common. These 
things are indubitable. Well, what in the world is the matter.? What 
have they done, that renders them so obnoxious.'' Where are those corrupt 
principles and wicked designs to be found, they are so often charged with in 
the answer. There is a great cry indeed, and not only the city but the whole 
country, according to some, must be hurried and huddled together to view 
this great sight; this new thing that has happened at Chebacco, and to ex- 
press their resentments. Well, suppose they should assemble, what matter 
of wonder would they see? Why, this they would see; that a number of 
christians that us'd to meet and worship God on the west-side of the road, 
now meet for that purpose on the east-side. They would find that instead 
of their sitting under the preaching and administration of their former 
pastor, now deceased, who they did not like, and under whose ministration 
they could not profit or be easy; they sit under the ministration of Mr. 
Cleaveland, whom they do like, and hy whom they are better edified. They 
would further see, that instead of a lecture once a month, they have it once 
a week; and that instead of living without some of the officers the consti- 
tution requires, as formerly; they now have them. In short, they would 
find their doctrines sound and orthodox; their discipline strict, yet tender 
and moderate; their worship serious and devout, and their lives sober, 
humble and discreet. They would find them willing to pay all their be- 
hindments due to their deceased pastor; and that they have made proposals 
of reunion with the adhering part of the church and parish, and yet could 
not obtain so much as a conference for that purpose. It's true, they would 
also find that they had left without leave the society and communion of the 
pastor and church, who had used them so ill, as has been represented ; and 
which, if it did not amount to a total subversion of the ends of the gospel, 
yet it was a great clog and hindrance to their edification. And with respect 
to the priviledges of the members under such difficulties, they were totally 
deprived and left without hope of it's ever being otherwise. And this is 
what they plead, for their separation from that pastor and that sett of mem- 
bers. And that's all they have to do. For, from the faith and fellowship, 
worship and discipline, communion and order of these churches, they have 
not separated. And what great cause of wonder would arise from all this? 
And in what respect would it deserve the frowns of the spectators? Is not 



212 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

here a mighty bustle about a very little matter? A great out-cry for no 
great cause ? Yea worse, a threatening of censure on pretence of the breach 
of order, and of the constitution. When the case is quite otherwise; so 
far from a breach of the constitution and order of these churches, that it is 
rather a resumption and reavowment of it. As whatever they have varied 
from the constitution, in this act, may I think fitly be compared to a vessel 
carried out of her course or latitude by a side wind or cross current, which 
puts about, and stands seemingly back, to regain the same : Or to a travel- 
ler who has been led or forced out of his road, who treads back his wrong 
path in order to get right. 

I answer and freely own, that in the first of those religious operations, 
some persons were too warm, and apt to censure others, and in some cases 
appeared more showey than was decent, as I apprehended. But then you 
must observe, that what they were so warm about, was the great things in 
religion; which methinks should in some measure plead their excuse. 
They adhered to, and earnestly contended for the faith, and other doctrines 
of the reformation, in maintenance of which the martyrs embraced the 
stake ; and to which also our forefathers adhered. Nor did I ever perceive, 
who had opportunity of observing them, that the Antinomian errors got 
ground among them. A holy life and walk with God, their hearts were 
much set on ; they apprehended with the apostle, that they ought not to 
fashion themselves according to the customs of this world ; that the gospel 
prize was weighty, and required more wrestling and striving for, than most 
men were aware of. They had a quick and tender sense of divine things; 
they tasted that God was gracious ; and that his word was sweet, and they 
loved it exceedingly, and the like. Hence they were hardly easy but when 
in religious exercises : And as every nature delights to promote its kind, 
they would frequently call on others, not only to be helpers of their faith 
and jo}', but to share in it themselves : And when they met with neglect 
and cruel reproaches, as sometimes they did, they were too easily caught 
in the snare of impatience, and their own spirit perhaps being over-heated, 
as I believe is common in such cases, they sometimes spoke unadvisedly 
with their lips, in way of censure and reproach of others. And they that 
well knew the whole of the matter will, I am persuaded, say, they had too 
much provocation. They have been-long since convinced of this error, and 
behave with the meekness becoming christians. However, great advantage 
was made of these things; they were multiply'd and aggravated then, as 
we find them now in the answer; and indeed, to such a degree did those 
calumnies proceed, and such a clamour was raised about this set of people, 
not only in that place, but elsewhere, as I think was more than proportion- 
ate to their failings, if not more than can well be reconciled with the spirit 
of Christianity, or than was for the service of religion. 

Let the pastor and church be never so much to blame in former times; 
yet at length they make up all, and do their duty; agree to have council; 
but then the aggrieved will not. No, their majority, fourteen out of twenty- 
six, refuse it. (Page 15.) And here at last you have found a resting place 



Two Hundredth Anniversary. 213 

for the sole of your foot; a something, whereby to justify you, and bring 
you off, under all your former neglect, which otherwise you have own'd, 
would not be excusable; and now turn the whole blame on the aggrieved. 
Hence also, principally, you would make out your pretensions of falshood 
in the narrative, and justify all the calumny and reproach, with which you 
have loaded the authors. Hence, you would represent them as artful, 
plotting, deceitful; and in short, as vile a pack of knaves, as ever were. 
This you place as a castle within your tottering walls, and frequently fly 
to it when they tumble; as for want of foundation, and suitable materials 
they often do, even while you are endeavouring to build them up. This 
you sew as pillows under your arm-holes, and fix as bladders to support 
and keep you from sinking under the weight and justice of the cause, you 
are endeavouring to overset. You repeat, multiply, and magnify this 
thins ; you use it negatively and postively ; dress, new dress, and new shape 
it, and make it serve to purposes, more than one could well imagine. In 
short, it is the burden of your song, and almost become stale, and a by- 
word in 3-our answer. It's plain you esteem it as your dernier resort, and 
as a city of refuge, on almost every occasion ; and when you are falling, 
here you catch and here you hang; as every one that reads your answer, 
may see. But, alas for you, your fingers must be knock'd oft" this hold; 
your refuge will prove but a refuge of lies. This bladder must be pricked ; 
these pillows, this prop, must be pluck'd away. This castle, from whence 
so many arrows dipt in gall, have been shot out against the aggrieved, their 
narrative, and their cause, must be demolished. And what will become of 
your confidence then.? INIust it not be as the spider's web, and as the giv- 
ing up of the ghost.? 

It seems by you, that no preacher is more than a pretender, if he preaches 
with a little more warmth and vigour than is consistent with people's going 
to sleep under his sermon, tho' never so close, evangelical, sound and or- 
thodox in his discourses. No, these must be contemned as pretenders, 
while not a cold, formal, or Arminian preacher, can be found in the coun- 
try, to bear any part of your contempt and resentment. 

"Stealing away the hearts of the injudicious." So you see, if any min- 
ister of this character wins a person to a good liking of his preaching, the 
minister must be a thief, and the man a fool. And just so it was in the 
apostles days; all men were fools, that they caught by this sort of guile, 
for thev stole many a heart in this way; and a great disturbance it was then 
accounted, as well as now. However, I plead not for men's intruding 
themselves into other men's parishes; nor do I know that any great dis- 
turbance has been given to ministers of late by this means. However, if 
there is, I would suggest something that I am satisfied will remove it; 
namely to treat the ministers and christians of the new-light character 
with a little more justice and candor, and not on account of some past 
disorder, that if left alone would soon die with age, go on to despise, dis- 
parage, and discourage them, as heretofore they have done; while nothing 
material can be objected to their soundness in Christianity; and instead 



214 Congregational Church and Parish, Essex. 

thereof turn their displeasure against the broachers and maintainers of 
such tenets as are subversive of the gospel. And this will secure the hearts 
and minds of their people; which otherwise are so injudicious thej cannot 
be satisfied. 

And 1 have as little doubt, but when the discovering and decisive daj 
comes, to which jour answer, with a strange security, I think, (considering 
what it is) appeals ; when the question will not be, who has been most 
artful or powerful, or made most ado about order; tho' this last is good and 
a duty in its place and measure : But who has most strove to promote the 
spiritual kingdom of Christ in the world ; who has most contended for the 
faith of Jesus, and for the edification and comfort of the saints, who has 
been most just, merciful and kind to his fellow-servant, and most laboured 
to loose the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free. Then, I say, I 
have no doubt but the cause of the aggrieved, and those who have appeared 
for them, will meet with a gracious acceptation from the Judge : Tho' they 
now sit pensive and silent, and somewhat low like the Myrtle Grove; not 
only on account of reproaches, but also and principally in regard of the 
withdraw of the Holy Spirit, which they may with reason, in part look 
upon as the effect of their own failings. 

Truth and righteousness will never rot; no, cover them with what sort of 
filth you will, yet when that day comes, if not before, they will get upper- 
most, and go forth as brightness, and as a lamp that burneth. 

H. 

OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH 

since the death of those who are mentioned in the latter part of the His- 
torical Discourse, with the dates of their election and of their resignation 
or death. 

DEACONS. 

Caleb Cogswell, 1862. Caleb S. Gage, 1S73. 

Leonard Burnham, 1873-18S0. Francis Goodhue, 1874. 

David L. Haskell, 1880. 

•CLERKS. 

Caleb Cogswell, 1863-1875. Rufus Choate, 1S75. 

TREASURERS. 

Robert W. Burnham, 1874 — d. August 13, 1876. 
Mrs. Mary C. Osgood, 1876. 

SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE SABBATH SCHOOL. 

Caleb Cogswell, 1873-1878. Rev. John L. Harris, 187S-1879. 

George F. Mears, Esq., 1879-1S81. David L. Haskell, 1881-1882. 

George F. Mears, Esq.. 18S3 — d. March 6, 1SS3. 
David L. Haskell, 18S3. 



CORRECTIONS. 

p. 46, line 30, for matters read matter. 

p. 69, line 25, for naturall law read natural! loz>r. 

p. 83, foot-note, for 1S29 read 1629. 

p. 88, line 10, for t/ian read t/ieft. 

p. 97. line 30, for department read deportment. 

p. 99, line 28, for acceptable read acceptably. 

p. 104, line 14, for one year read t-vo years. 






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